Poems (Jenkins)/Lying in State
Lying in State
IF with his fathers he had fallen asleep,— Far different would have been this drear lyke-wake. Lonely and lampless lies he, for whose sake Many might well a night-long vigil keep, And, though we have not time nor heart to weep, Yet fain would we some slight observance make, E'er sad to-morrow's earliest dawn shall break When he must lie yet darker and more deep.
Therefore we've laid him 'neath a chestnut tree, That bears a myriad candles all alight, And faintly glimmering through the starry gloom—No dimmer than a holy vault might be— It sheds abroad upon the quiet night A gentle radiance and a faint perfume.