CLOSED are the tear-gates of Paradise now, And the shadows of death lie cold on the brow Of Rebecca, the Jewess so fair; And her dark eyes that sparkled than diamonds more bright, Have paled the soft rays of their pure, living light, And vacant they gaze as a lone star of night, When darkness is filling the air,— The balmy, the soft summer air. Weep, daughters of Zion! Weep, chosen of God! For the morrow shall moulder, beneath the cold clod, The form of the spirit that's fled! Wreathe the dark hair of the maiden laid low, Spread violets over her bosom of snow, And lay her down peacefully, calmly, below The green winding-sheet of the dead, The flower-decked robe of the dead. There let her sleep, till the last trump shall sound The call of the dead, that slumber around Earth's green hills, and by its streams; Waked by the voice of the Angel of Doom, Then may she burst in the dark gates of the tomb, Arrayed in white robes, and radiant with bloom To sing in the Land of Dreams,— The beautiful Land of Dreams. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...PRELUDE TO A FAIRY TALE by EDITH SITWELL CHRISTMAS CAROL by PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR GO DOWN DEATH; A FUNERAL SERMON by JAMES WELDON JOHNSON LOVE AND SLEEP by ALGERNON CHARLES SWINBURNE THE DREAM THAT CRACKED A WHIP by FRANCES AIRTH THE ART OF PRESERVING HEALTH: BOOK 2. ADVICE TO THE STOUT by JOHN ARMSTRONG |