We commend our brother to thee, oh earth! To thee he returns, from thee was his birth! Of thee was he form'd, he was nourish'd by thee; Take the body, oh earth! the spirit is free. Oh air! he once breath'd thee, thro' thee he surviv'd, And in thee, and with thee, his pure spirit liv'd; That spirit hath fled, and we yield him to thee; His ashes be spread, like his soul, far and free. Oh fire! we commit his dear reliques to thee, Thou emblem of purity, spotless and free; May his soul, like thy flames, bright and burning arise, To its mansion of bliss, in the star-spangled skies. Oh water! receive him; without thy kind aid He had parch'd 'neath the sunbeams or mourn'd in the shade; Then take of his body the share which is thine, For the spirit hath fled from its mouldering shrine. |