I stood beside a casket
The gem had soared away
To join in Heaven's diadem
A glittering galaxy,
But lingering o'er the casket
I thought of days now fled
And of one who bore no likeness
To the changed and faded dead,
And I seemed to see the merriment
That sparkled in her eye
And to hear again the merry laugh
I heard in days gone by,
And I thought how soon the casket
Hid in the earth's embrace
Would fade away, nor leave behind
In memory's hall a trace;
And as a last long tribute
That friendship's hand could pay
Ere to the lonely tomb they bore
The cold and icy clay,
I plucked my fragile pansies
To lay upon her bier
And bade them carry with them
The language of a tear.
Emblems of angel purity
Could angels be more fair?
And as their sweet-breathed incense
Was flung upon the air
Faith whispered: "Though not on the earth
Yet in a heavenly fane,
The resurrected casket
Shall hold the gem again."
The gem had soared away
To join in Heaven's diadem
A glittering galaxy,
But lingering o'er the casket
I thought of days now fled
And of one who bore no likeness
To the changed and faded dead,
And I seemed to see the merriment
That sparkled in her eye
And to hear again the merry laugh
I heard in days gone by,
And I thought how soon the casket
Hid in the earth's embrace
Would fade away, nor leave behind
In memory's hall a trace;
And as a last long tribute
That friendship's hand could pay
Ere to the lonely tomb they bore
The cold and icy clay,
I plucked my fragile pansies
To lay upon her bier
And bade them carry with them
The language of a tear.
Emblems of angel purity
Could angels be more fair?
And as their sweet-breathed incense
Was flung upon the air
Faith whispered: "Though not on the earth
Yet in a heavenly fane,
The resurrected casket
Shall hold the gem again."
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