LIFE is day, and death is night,
        Bringing with it deep,
        Never-ending sleep,
And dreams that soothe the soul, or else affright.

Life is Eden; but the tree
        Of true knowledge blooms
        'Mid the desert's tombs,
--The cypress soon to wave o'er you and me.

Our first parents, in the groves
        Of blest Paradise,
        Life did sacrifice,
Exchanging hatreds for their former loves.

To the desert driven forth,
        There they toiled and wept,
        Till in peace they slept
Beneath the cypress, pillowed on the earth.

We, like them, are driven forth;
        We must toil and weep,
        Till in quiet sleep,
Beneath the cypress shade we sink to earth.