There were no joy but only pain
Both given and received,
And, save the patient have been slain
Condition grow aggrieved--
Yet, so the body wear the stain
Nor mercy one reprieved.
It were the dying wish upon
The breath of one, who dies--
A prayer before extinguished sun
To darkness aught denies,
And it may be so fortunes run
But so fate’s favor lies.
It were received, and unto some
A deathblow may beseem
“A life blow,” still the blow must come
And then the reelings teem:
And I, that new have lost my home,
Continue in the dream.