Sleep here in peace!
To earth's kind bosom do we tearful take thee;
No mortal sound again from rest shall wake thee;
No fever-thirst, no grief that needs assuaging,
No tempest-burst, above thy head loud-raging.
Sleep here in peace!
Sleep here in peace!
No more thou'lt know the sun's glad morning shining,
No more the glory of the day's declining;
No more the night that stoops serene above thee,
Watching thy rest, like tender eyes that love thee.
Sleep here in peace!
Sleep here in peace!
Unknown to thee the spring will come with blessing,
The turf above thee in soft verdure dressing;
Unknown will come the autumn rich and mellow,
Sprinkling thy couch with foliage golden-yellow.
Sleep here in peace!
Sleep here in peace!
This is earth's rest for all her broken-hearted,
Where she has garnered up our dear departed;
The prattling babe, the wife, the old man hoary,
The tired of human life, the crowned with glory.
Sleep here in peace!
Sleep here in peace!
This is the gate for thee to walks immortal;
This is the entrance to the pearly portal;
The pathway trod by saints and sages olden,
Whose feet now walk Jerusalem the golden!
Sleep here in peace!
Sleep here in peace!
For not on earth shall be man's rest eternal,
Faith's morn shall come! Each setting sun diurnal,
Each human sleeping, and each human waking,
Hastens the day that shall on earth be breaking.
Sleep here in peace!
Sleep here in peace!
Faith's morn shall come when he, our Lord and Maker,
Shall claim his own that slumber in God's acre;
When he who once for man Death's anguish tasted
Shall show Death's gloomy realm despoiled and wasted.
Sleep here in peace!