The Burial of Moses

By Nebo’s lonely mountain , on this side Jordan’s wave ,
In a vale in the land of Moab , there lies a lonely grave ;
But no man dug that sepulcher ,and no man saw it e’er ,
For the angels of God upturned the sod , and laid the dead man there .

That was the grandest funeral that ever passed on earth ;
But no man heard the tramping , or saw the train go forth ;
Noiselessly as the daylight comes when the night is done ,
And the crimson streak on the ocean’s cheek grows into the great sun,-

Noiselessly as the spring-time her crown of verdure weaves ,
And all the trees on all the hills open their thousand leaves ,-
So ,without sound of music ,or voice of them that wept ,
Silently down the mountain’s crown the great procession
swept .

Lo! When the warrior dieth , his comrades of the war,
With arms reversed , and muffled drums, follow the funeral car
They show the banners taken , they tell his battles won ,
And after him lead his masterless steed , while peals the minute-gun .

Amid the noblest of the land men lay the sage to rest ,
And give the bard an honored place with costly marble
dressed ,
In the great minster transept ,where lights like glories fall ,
And the sweet choir sings ,and the organ rings ,along the emblazoned wall .

This was the bravest warrior that ever buckled sword ;
This the most gifted poet that ever breathed a word ;
And never earth’s philosopher traced , with his golden pen ,
On the deathless page , truths half so sage ,as he wrote down for men .

And had he not high honor , the hillside for a pall ;
To lie in state while angels wait with stars for tapers tall;
And the dark rock pines , like tossing plumes ,over his bier to wave ;
And God’s own hand , in that lonely land ,to lay him in the grave ?

O lonely tomb in Moab’s land ! O dark Beth-peor’s hill ,
Speak to these curious hearts of ours, and teach them to
be still :
God hath his mysteries of Grace –ways that we cannot tell ;
He hides them deep like the secret sleep of him he loved so well .
Jan Bagwell