VirginiaPM
Registered User
I have lost brothers in two days. When I was a child and attended my grandfathers masonic funeral service, a brother in the lodge conducting the service recited this poem which I found again a few months ago. It was written by Albert Pike to commemerate brothers lost in the Civil War. It seems fitting at this time.
Anthem No. 1
Among the dead our Brothers sleep,
Their lives were rounded true and well;
And Love in bitter sorrow weeps
Above their dark and silent cell.
No pain, no anxious sleepless Fear
Invades their house; no mortal woes
Their narrow resting-place come near,
To trouble their serene repose.
Their names are graven on the stones
That friendship's tears will often wet;
But each true Brother's heart upon
That name is stamped more deeply yet.
As Hiram slept, the widow's son,
So do our Brothers take their rest;
Life's battle fought, Life's duties done,
Their faults forgot, their worth confessed.
So let them sleep that dreamless sleep,
Our sorrows clustering round each head;
Be comforted, ye loved, who weep!
They live with God; they are not dead.
Anthem No. 1
Among the dead our Brothers sleep,
Their lives were rounded true and well;
And Love in bitter sorrow weeps
Above their dark and silent cell.
No pain, no anxious sleepless Fear
Invades their house; no mortal woes
Their narrow resting-place come near,
To trouble their serene repose.
Their names are graven on the stones
That friendship's tears will often wet;
But each true Brother's heart upon
That name is stamped more deeply yet.
As Hiram slept, the widow's son,
So do our Brothers take their rest;
Life's battle fought, Life's duties done,
Their faults forgot, their worth confessed.
So let them sleep that dreamless sleep,
Our sorrows clustering round each head;
Be comforted, ye loved, who weep!
They live with God; they are not dead.
