He perpetrates a complex crime
Who dares to die before his time.
His country called for noble men
But where was he, the traitor, then?
Life's field was broad, its workers few
Yet he had nothing left to do,
Truth had a thousand pearls to give
And he had naught for which to live.
Life is so short, life's work so great
But the tired idler could not wait
And plotted out his coward's crime
With hope to rest before his time.
Who, hath the temple overthrown
To which God holds the key alone,
His is the thief's eternal doom,
His is the prison's hopeless gloom,
He thinks to sleep, ah, vain his thought!
In their lone cells they slumber not;
Like culprits in their dungeon bed
They only wait the sentence dread;
His is the murderer's awful fate,
His grave shall be his prison gate
From whence again with faltering breath
He goeth trembling to his death
Upon his hands the murderer's stain
And on his brow the mark of Cain;
Bring no fair flowers to deck his tomb
They only mock its rayless gloom.
Who dares to die before his time.
His country called for noble men
But where was he, the traitor, then?
Life's field was broad, its workers few
Yet he had nothing left to do,
Truth had a thousand pearls to give
And he had naught for which to live.
Life is so short, life's work so great
But the tired idler could not wait
And plotted out his coward's crime
With hope to rest before his time.
Who, hath the temple overthrown
To which God holds the key alone,
His is the thief's eternal doom,
His is the prison's hopeless gloom,
He thinks to sleep, ah, vain his thought!
In their lone cells they slumber not;
Like culprits in their dungeon bed
They only wait the sentence dread;
His is the murderer's awful fate,
His grave shall be his prison gate
From whence again with faltering breath
He goeth trembling to his death
Upon his hands the murderer's stain
And on his brow the mark of Cain;
Bring no fair flowers to deck his tomb
They only mock its rayless gloom.
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