Public-domain source text

The Revel

by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper

From Standard Ebooks · standardebooks/frances-ellen-watkins-harper_poetry

“He knoweth not that the dead are there.”
In yonder halls reclining Are forms surpassing fair, And brilliant lights are shining, But, oh! the dead are there!
There’s music, song and dance, There’s banishment of care, And mirth in every glance, But, oh! the dead are there!
The wine cup’s sparkling glow Blends with the viands rare. There’s revelry and show, But still, the dead are there!
’Neath that flow of song and mirth Runs the current of despair, But the simple sons of earth Know not the dead are there!
They’ll shudder start and tremble, They’ll weep in wild despair When the solemn truth breaks on them, That the dead, the dead are there!

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This is a source transcription from Standard Ebooks, published in Past Poetry’s public-domain archive without line-by-line editorial notes. Public-domain source edition. Availability can vary by territory.

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