They are no more! O, dull and drear,
Sound those bereaving, mournful words;
Affliction finds no wilder tear —
Memory no darker doom records;
Not in our homes, not by our side,
Move the bright beings we deplore;
The hearts which love had sanctified,
They are no more!

Oh, breathes there one that hath not known
The parting word — the dying look —
While in the soul grief walked alone,
And every pulse with anguish shook:
Some cherished one that blessed him there —
And passed — as sunlight from the shore?
Woe! woe! the young — the loved — the fair —
They are no more!

The music of their lips hath fled,
Their grace and beauty passed away;
Yet lives the presence of the dead
Within our souls, as light in day!
A fresher light shall burst the tomb,
And all the blessed lost restore;
Unknown those words of wail and gloom —
They are no more!