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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
SYREN SONGS: DIRGE, by GEORGE DARLEY Poet's Biography
First Line: Prayer unsaid, and mass unsung
Last Line: Mermen lay him in his tomb!
Variant Title(s): The Sea-ritual
Subject(s): Funerals; Supernatural; Burials
First Line: Prayer unsaid, and mass unsung
Last Line: Mermen lay him in his tomb!
Variant Title(s): The Sea-ritual
Subject(s): Funerals; Supernatural; Burials
Prayer unsaid, and Mass unsung,
Deadman's dirge must still be rung:
Dingle-dong, the dead-bells sound!
Mermen chant his dirge around!
Wash him bloodless, smooth him fair,
Stretch his limbs, and sleek his hair:
Dingle-dong, the dead-bells go!
Mermen swing them to and fro!
In the wormless sand shall he
Feast for no foul glutton be:
Dingle-dong, the dead-bells chime!
Mermen keep the tone and time!
We must with a tombstone brave
Shut the shark out from his grave:
Dingle-dong, the dead-bells toll!
Mermen dirgers ring his knoll!
Such a slab will we lay o'er him,
All the dead shall rise before him:
Dingle-dong, the dead-bells boom!
Mermen lay him in his tomb!
Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!
Other Poems of Interest...
THE FUNERAL SERMON by ANDREW HUDGINS
RETURN FROM DELHI by JOSEPHINE JACOBSEN
THE SCATTERING OF EVAN JONES'S ASHES by GALWAY KINNELL
BROWNING'S FUNERAL by H. T. MACKENZIE BELL
FALLING ASLEEP OVER THE AENEID by ROBERT LOWELL
MY FATHER'S BODY by WILLIAM MATTHEWS
ETHELSTAN: RUNILDA'S CHANT by GEORGE DARLEY