 | Jones Very : The Complete Poems |  |
The Ancient Burial Places in Peabody
It was the custom in Danvers, now Peabody, for many families to bury their dead on their own farms; a custom not wholly discontinued. There are many such ancient burial places in this town.
They lie by the roadside, where they lived,
In the fields they loved to till;
And the landscape round a fitness lends,
Which the musing mind doth fill
In the fields they loved to till;
And the landscape round a fitness lends,
Which the musing mind doth fill
With a peace and rest, in sweet accord
With the lives, which here they led;
As with honest toil, and frugal ways,
They toiled for their daily bread.
With the lives, which here they led;
As with honest toil, and frugal ways,
They toiled for their daily bread.
In sight of the homes to them so dear,
Of the woods, and hills they lie;
And the plaintive brook, with its soft, low voice,
Is heard as it glideth by.
Of the woods, and hills they lie;
And the plaintive brook, with its soft, low voice,
Is heard as it glideth by.
With simple rites, by their neighbors' hands
They were laid in the kindly earth;
With heavenly words for the sorrowing heart,
That told of a higher birth.
They were laid in the kindly earth;
With heavenly words for the sorrowing heart,
That told of a higher birth.
488
Though no costly tomb, nor e'en a stone,
May tell where their bodies rest;
Yet not less sacred the cherished spots,
Which are by their memory blest.
May tell where their bodies rest;
Yet not less sacred the cherished spots,
Which are by their memory blest.
In the faith of their fathers they lived and died;
That the spirit survives the dust,
That the righteous shall wear a heavenly crown,
And receive the reward of the just.
That the spirit survives the dust,
That the righteous shall wear a heavenly crown,
And receive the reward of the just.
Poem No. 643; c. 4 January 1876
| Jones Very : The Complete Poems | |