Fluminum lapsus et unda, Littorum crepidines,

Imber, aestus, nix, pruina, Aura, silva, nox, dies

Omnibus te concelebrant

Saeculorum saeculis!

Let rushing floods and swelling waves,

And frowning cliffs that skirt the shore, Let storm and sunshine, frost and snow,

And winds that through the forests roar, And night and day Thy praises tell

Throughout all ages evermore.

II

IN EXSEQUIIS

Iam moesta quiesce querela,
Lacrymas suspendite, matres!
Nullus sua pignora plangat:
Mors haec reparatio vitae est.

Quidnam sibi saxa cavata,
Quid pulchra volunt monumenta?
Res quod nisi creditur illis
Non mortua, sed data somno.

Nam quod requiescere corpus
Vacuum sine mente videmus,
Spatium breve restat, ut alti
Repetat collegia sensus.

Venient cito saecula, quum iam Socius calor ossa revisat,

Animataque sanguine vivo

Habitacula pristina gestet.

II

AT FUNERALS

Now, O bitter grief be silent,

Tears, ye mothers, banish hence!
Let no man lament his children:
This is death, --life's recompense.

For what mean these rocky caverns,
What these monuments so fair?
Save that this unto them trusted
Is not dead but sleeping there.

For that body we see resting,
Vacant and devoid of mind,
Only for a brief space waiteth,

Better powers restored to find.

Swift will pass the coming ages,
Friendly warmth these bones shall know

And these former habitations,

Animate with life-blood, glow.

Quae pigra cadavera pridem
Tumulis putrefacta iacebant,
Volucres rapientur in auras,
Animas comitata priores.

Sic semina sicca virescunt
Iam mortua iamque sepulta,
Quae reddita cespite ab imo
Veteres meditantur aristas.

Nunc suscipe, terra, fovendum,
Gremioque hunc concipe molli!
Hominis tibi membra sequestro,
Generosa et fragmina credo.

Animae fuit haec domus olim
Factoris ab ore creatae;

Fervens habitavit in istis
Sapientia principe Christo.

Tu depositum tege corpus!
Non immemor ille requiret
Sua munera fictor et auctor
Propriique aenigmata vultus.

Veniant modo tempora iusta, Quum spem Deus impleat omnem; Reddas patefacta necesse est, Qualem tibi trado figuram.