By the wayside, on a mossy stone, Sat the hoary pilgrim, sadly musing; By the wayside, on a mossy stone! DIES IRÆ. Translated by General Dix. That day, a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, a day of the trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities, and against the high towers! - ZEPHANIAH i. 15, 16. Darth shall end in flame and sorrow, AY of vengeance, without morrow! As from saint and seer we borrow. Ah! what terror is impending, To the throne, the trumpet sounding, Death and nature, mazed, are quaking, What shall I then say, unfriended, When the just are scarce defended? King of majesty tremendous, Holy Jesus, meek, forbearing, For my sins the death-crown wearing, Save me, in that day, despairing. Worn and weary, thou hast sought me; By thy cross and passion bought me― Spare the hope thy labors brought me. Righteous Judge of retribution, As a guilty culprit groaning, Thou to Mary gav'st remission, In my prayers no grace discerning, Give me, when thy sheep confiding When the wicked are confounded, Prostrate, all my guilt discerning, Day of weeping, when from ashes THE BURIAL OF MOSES. "And he buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, over against Beth-peor; but no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day." Y Nebo's lonely mountain, BY On this side Jordan's wave, In a vale in the land of Moab, For the angels of God upturned the sod, That was the grandest funeral That ever passed on earth; And the crimson streak on ocean's cheek Grows into the great sun Noiselessly as the spring-time So, without sound of music Or voice of them that wept, Silently down from the mountain crown The great procession swept. Perchance the bald old eagle, Looked on the wondrous sight. Still shuns the hallowed spot, For beast and bird have seen and heard That which man knoweth not. But when the warrior dieth, His comrades in the war, With arms reversed and muffled drum, Follow the funeral car. They show the banners taken, And after him lead his masterless steed, Amid the noblest of the land Men lay the sage to rest, And give the bard an honored place With costly marble dressed, In the great minster transept, Where lights like glories fall, And the sweet choir sings, and the organ rings, Along the emblazoned wall. This was the bravest warrior That ever breathed a word; On the deathless page, truths half so sage As he wrote down for men. And had he not high honor? To lie in state while angels wait And the dark rock-pines, like tossing plumes, And God's own hand, in that lonely land, In that deep grave, without a name, Shall break again - most wondrous thought!— Before the judgment day, And stand with glory wrapped around On the hills he never trod, And speak of the strife that won our life O lonely tomb in Moab's land, Ways that we cannot tell; He hides them deep, like the secret sleep |