Classic Poem

To the scene of life now closes
Time, farewell to thee;
Oh! that I could die like Moses,
Drop and strangely flee;
I'm gone, amen — I'm gone forever,
My eternal debt to pay;
To return again more never,
Torn from earth away.

Flesh and spirit clept asunder,
With the flight of breath;
Halt my soul, look down and wonder,
After gloom of death;
But let no sobbing tones attend it,
Hide! oh hide! the lifeless frame;
Sobs and tears can never mend it,
All must die the same.

Man is born not long to tarry,
A bloom of swift decay;
Death like lightning flies to carry
Souls from time away.
His worthless jaw is but a bubble,
Mortal, what is fortune's crown.
Groping thro' a maze of trouble,
What is vain renown.

Life is but a cloud of sorrow,
Oh! but soon to close;
I'm here today, but gone to-morrow,
To my long repose.
See, see, how fast in fate's dark ocean,
Mortals sink beneath the wave;
From a stage of proud devotion,
Onward to the grave.

Life's dull blush, no spring retrieves it,
Left without a bloom;
Which, when transient summer leaves it,
Blossoms for the tomb.
Then, oh my soul, forbear to languish,
Drop thy mantle on the shore;
Sing, oh death, where is thy anguish,
Lost and felt no more.