BY Nebo’s lonely mountain, | |
| On this side Jordan’s wave, | |
| In a vale in the land of Moab, | |
| There lies a lonely grave; | |
| But no man built that sepulchre, | 5 |
| And no man saw it e’er; | |
| For the angels of God upturned the sod, | |
| And laid the dead man there. | |
| |
| That was the grandest funeral | |
| That ever passed on earth; | 10 |
| Yet no man heard the trampling, | |
| Or saw the train go forth: | |
| Noiselessly as the daylight | |
| Comes when the night is done, | |
| And the crimson streak on Ocean’s cheek | 15 |
| Grows into the great sun; | |
| |
| Noiselessly as the spring-time | |
| Her crown of verdure weaves, | |
| And all the trees on all the hills | |
| Unfold their thousand leaves: | 20 |
| So without sound of music, | |
| Or voice of them that wept, | |
| Silently down from the mountain’s crown | |
| The great procession swept. | |
| |
| Perchance the bald old eagle | 25 |
| On gray Beth-peor’s height | |
| Out of his rocky eyry | |
| Looked on the wondrous sight; | |
| Perchance the lion stalking | |
| Still shuns that hallowed spot; | 30 |
| For beast and bird have seen and heard | |
| That which man knoweth not. | |
| |
| But, when the warrior dieth, | |
| His comrades of the war, | |
| With arms reversed and muffled drums, | 35 |
| Follow the funeral car: | |
| They show the banners taken; | |
| They tell his battles won, | |
| And after him lead his masterless steed, | |
| While peals the minute-gun. | 40 |
| |
| Amid the noblest of the land | |
| Men lay the sage to rest, | |
| And give the bard an honored place, | |
| With costly marbles drest, | |
| In the great minster transept | 45 |
| Where lights like glories fall, | |
| And the sweet choir sings, and the organ rings | |
| Along the emblazoned hall. | |
| |
| This was the bravest warrior | |
| That ever buckled sword; | 50 |
| This the most gifted poet | |
| That ever breathed a word; | |
| And never earth’s philosopher | |
| Traced with his golden pen, | |
| On the deathless page, truths half so sage | 55 |
| As he wrote down for men. | |
| |
| And had he not high honor? | |
| The hillside for his pall! | |
| To lie in state while angels wait | |
| With stars for tapers tall! | 60 |
| And the dark rock-pines like tossing plumes | |
| Over his bier to wave, | |
| And God’s own hand, in that lonely land, | |
| To lay him in his grave! | |
| |
| In that deep grave without a name, | 65 |
| Whence his uncoffined clay | |
| Shall break again,—O wondrous thought! | |
| Before the Judgment-Day, | |
| And stand, with glory wrapped around, | |
| On the hills he never trod, | 70 |
| And speak of the strife that won our life | |
| With the incarnate Son of God. | |
| |
| O lonely tomb in Moab’s land! | |
| O dark Beth-peor’s hill! | |
| Speak to these curious hearts of ours, | 75 |
| And teach them to be still: | |
| God hath his mysteries of grace, | |
| Ways that we cannot tell, | |
| He hides them deep, like the secret sleep | |
| Of him he loved so well. | 80 |
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