Martha

Oliver Wendell Holmes

          SEXTON! Martha's dead and gone;
          Toll the bell! toll the bell!
          Her weary hands their labor cease;
          Good night, poor Martha,-- sleep in peace!
          Toll the bell!

          Sexton! Martha 's dead and gone;
          Toll the bell! toll the bell!
          For many a year has Martha said,
          "I'm old and poor,-- would I were dead!"
          Toll the bell!

          Sexton! Martha's dead and gone;
          Toll the bell! toll the bell!
          She'll bring no more, by day or night,
          Her basket full of linen white.
          Toll the bell!

          Sexton! Martha's dead and gone;
          Toll the bell! toll the bell!
          'Tis fitting she should lie below
          A pure white sheet of drifted snow.
          Toll the bell!

          Sexton! Martha's dead and gone;
          Toll the bell! toll the bell!
          Sleep, Martha, sleep, to wake in light,
          Where all the robes are stainless white.
          Toll the bell!

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