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Page:Poems Odom.djvu/279

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TRIBUTE.
265
Laid him in the grand cathedralThat he built in other years;Poured upon him the oblationOf his people's bitter tears.When the sacred rites were ended,And the last requiem sung—When the great bell in the towerIts last solemn note had rung,Then with tender hands we laid himIn his deep and narrow bed;Near his own shrine of "Our Lady,"Rests his noble, saintly head.
And the sunlight through the windowCast a shining, golden wave,That fell brightly on the casket—Played about the open grave,As though the angels, bendingSoftly downward through the gloom,Poured the very light of heavenIn the darkness of his tomb.And he lies there in his slumber,Undisturbed by sound or breath;Victor even in surrender,Proudly conqueror in death.