Here friends shall sleep with friends that they have wept
And innocence forget its grief and wrong.
And innocence forget its grief and wrong.
And all day long across the tropic plains
Fair forms are borne by Zerdasht Holy Band,
Up to the hill, in slow and solemn trains,
While Magi chant the sacred words of Zend.
Fair forms are borne by Zerdasht Holy Band,
Up to the hill, in slow and solemn trains,
While Magi chant the sacred words of Zend.
Out of the orient land the mourner comes
Bringing the nation's noblest and its best,
Bearing the idols of a thousand homes
Up to the tower where all at last must rest.
Bringing the nation's noblest and its best,
Bearing the idols of a thousand homes
Up to the tower where all at last must rest.
O Dahkma grim! Thou art the bane of life,
Thy shadows touch the utmost bounds of earth,
And fill man's days with bitterness and strife
And darken every human life at birth.
Thy shadows touch the utmost bounds of earth,
And fill man's days with bitterness and strife
And darken every human life at birth.
But earth and air and sky seem filled with joy,
Creation smiles and all the world is glad,
In Nature's heart there is no dark alloy,
Of all her creatures man alone is sad.
Creation smiles and all the world is glad,
In Nature's heart there is no dark alloy,
Of all her creatures man alone is sad.
Ah no! My soul forgets what Zerdasht saith
And what the earth and heavens declare to me;
That life is but the highway unto death,
And death the door to immortality.
And what the earth and heavens declare to me;
That life is but the highway unto death,
And death the door to immortality.
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