European Elegies/Winter/Funeral song
48.FUNERAL SONG
The years of youthSpeed yearning on;Hope's happy thoughtsAre hid and gone.The mind of manHas many a dream,But memory'sA misty gleam,And soon his corpseGrows stiff and starkIn the cold embraceOf his clay-bed dark.The man we mourn,The monied sonOf a substanced sire,Too soon is gone.Swift ships at seaSet sail for him;Fat beeves in byreBrought wealth to brim;The lovelinessOf a loving wifeThen crowned his joy—But crushed from life,He lies behind the graveyard hedgeBereft of all love's privilege.
From a Lappish folk-song.