THE TOMB OF MAN
What is your pageantry, O earth!
And what your wealth, O sea!
What is your grandeur, spangled heavens,
Upheld in majesty?
And what your wealth, O sea!
What is your grandeur, spangled heavens,
Upheld in majesty?
Resplendent jewels flash and gleam
On earth's triumphant breast,
But midst her brightest galaxies
Man goeth to his rest.
On earth's triumphant breast,
But midst her brightest galaxies
Man goeth to his rest.
Down in the depths, the coral reefs
Shine through the glistening wave;
But midst the gardens of the deep
The mortal makes his grave.
Shine through the glistening wave;
But midst the gardens of the deep
The mortal makes his grave.
Yon heavens in seas of azure lie,
And continents of cloud,
They wrap our frail humanity
In one vast burial shroud.
And continents of cloud,
They wrap our frail humanity
In one vast burial shroud.
Beauty and glory vie to claim
Earth's fruitage and her bloom,
To wreathe in posthumous designs
The universal tomb.
Earth's fruitage and her bloom,
To wreathe in posthumous designs
The universal tomb.
They gather up the sea's rare pearls
And strew them o'er her bed,
They chant with all her troubled waves
The dirges of her dead.
And strew them o'er her bed,
They chant with all her troubled waves
The dirges of her dead.
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