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| THERE is a grave overlooked by summer skies, | |
| Where lieth one whose noble dreams are o’er; | |
| On whose pale stone the paler moonlight lies, | |
| As if, from bleeding kindred hearts, it bore | |
| The tender messages that would be heard no more. | 5 |
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| Where the imperial river sweeps along | |
| Through the green valley, with its vineyards spread, | |
| The soft waves, singing nature’s cradle-song, | |
| Seem as if singing to the hills o’erhead | |
| Their own pathetic requiem for the exiled dead. | 10 |
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| When the low setting sun gives back to day | |
| The rapturous flush of its triumphant flight, | |
| Kissing the tops of mountains far away, | |
| Then, as if dropping from the golden height | |
| On this lone grave, falls the last lingering ray of light. | 15 |
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| Or when the stars in solemn grandeur rise | |
| With their pale splendor flashing through the deep, | |
| Like friendly lamps relit in foreign skies, | |
| Lo! as if smiling o’er his dreamless sleep, | |
| All silently they come, their nightly watch to keep. | 20 |
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| O blissful sleeper! though your grassy mound | |
| By tears of kindred never may be wet, | |
| Yet in the eyes of nature may be found | |
| A sweet consoling for their love’s regret, | |
| And the eternal love that never doth forget. | 25 |
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| Yea! life’s great river with its waters clear | |
| Through heavenly vineyards shall hereafter sweep, | |
| And unto us what seems the saddest here | |
| God shall interpret when we fall asleep, | |
| No “wherefores” to perplex, and nevermore to weep. | 30 |
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