SAFE IN THEIR ALABASTER CHAMBERS

1 Safe in their alabaster chambers,
2 Untouched by morning and untouched by noon,
3 Sleep the meek members of the resurrection.
4 Rafter of satin, and roof of stone.

5 Light laughs the breeze in her castle of sunshine;
6 Babbles the bee in a stolid ear;
7 Pipe the sweet birds in ignorant cadence,--
8 Ah, what sagacity perished here!

9 Grand go the years in the crescent above them;
10 Worlds scoop their arcs, and firmaments row,
11 Diadems drop and Doges surrender,
12 Soundless as dots on a disk of snow.