34
WED OR DEAD?
When he promised to love and to cherish
That girl in the satin and sheen,
'Twas the dirge of a manliness perished
That rang from the choir unseen.
That girl in the satin and sheen,
'Twas the dirge of a manliness perished
That rang from the choir unseen.
For there walks in the triumph of sorrow,
A woman whose smile can unfold,
More heaven than Reuben will borrow
From millions of pride-wedded gold.
A woman whose smile can unfold,
More heaven than Reuben will borrow
From millions of pride-wedded gold.
Though he tread where the proudest have risen,
The glance of his eye is in chains;
The smile on his lip is 1n prison,
His heart-beat, a captive, complains.
The glance of his eye is in chains;
The smile on his lip is 1n prison,
His heart-beat, a captive, complains.
O! the sadness of dying is never
When honor and truth have gone home,
But the madness of living to sever
One's soul from its heritage throne.
When honor and truth have gone home,
But the madness of living to sever
One's soul from its heritage throne.
To see one's own funeral passing;
To hear one's own requiem toll;
Ah, Reuben was chief of the mourners
That day when we buried his soul!
To hear one's own requiem toll;
Ah, Reuben was chief of the mourners
That day when we buried his soul!
So you talk of the bridal marches
And say that you saw him wed;
I hear through the heart's high arches
A dirge for the early dead.
And say that you saw him wed;
I hear through the heart's high arches
A dirge for the early dead.
