University of Virginia Library


299

THE GRAVE.

How calm and peaceful is the grave!
How bright the flowers that round it wave!
How clear the sky that o'er it shines!
How soft the scene,
When morning dawns, when day declines!
The weary there forget their woes—
The pilgrim hath a long repose;
No earthly storms the dead awake;
Their sleep is still
As sunset on the peaceful lake.
The rich and great are slumbering there,
Set free from earth's delusive glare.
The poor are garnered in the dust,
Alike at rest,
Till comes the rising of the just.
O day of glory, when the tomb
Shall burst, and heaven's bright morning come,
When all that in the earth repose
Shall wake to life,
And Christ shall reign o'er all His foes!