Take the cloak from his face, and at first
Let the corpse do its worst!
How he lies in his rights of a man!
Death has done all death can
And, absorbed in the new life he leads
He recks not, he heeds
Nor his wrong nor my vengeance; both strike
On his senses alike
And are lost in the solemn and strange
Surprise of the change
Ha, what avails death to erase
His offence, my disgrace?
I would we were boys as of old
In the field, by the fold:
His outrage, God's patience, man's scorn
Were so easily borne!
I stand here now, he lies in his place:
Cover the face!
Other Arthur Somervell songs:
all Arthur Somervell songs all songs from 1923