Poems for the Sea/Burial at Sea

by Lydia Sigourney

BURIAL AT SEA.

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Down to the unfathom'd realms,
   Where hidden fountains flow,
Alone, his silent couch to find,
   The child of earth must go.

For him no funeral bell
   May weeping friends convene,
Nor dust, to kindred dust be laid
   Within the church-yard green.

Farewell! one heavy plunge!
   One cleft in ocean's floor!

And then the deaf and sullen surge
   Sweeps on, and all is o'er.

We give thee earnest charge,
   Oh sad, and solemn deep,
Safe in thy cold and strong embrace
   This precious form to keep;

Till at the trumpet's sound,
   Which fills the world with dread,
Thy caverns, and the graves of earth
   Shall render up their dead:

Then clothed in glorious light,
   May this our friend arise,
And change thy dark, imprisoning cell,
   For freedom in the skies.