DIRGE.
Reading edition
ON THE DEATH OF A YOUNG LADY.
———
BY RICHARD PENN SMITH.
———
Mournfully toll the bell:
Gently bear earth to earth;
Solemnly chant the knell;
Death claims a mortal birth.
Virgins, strew early flowers,
Plucked from the snow in spring;
Emblems of her sad hours—
Smiling while withering.
She was a gentle one:
Pure as a seraph’s tear;
Too soon her task was done;
Born but to disappear!
Low chant her requiem;
Close o’er her breast the sod;
Angels, teach her your hymn,
While winging her way to God.