“When Thou Art Laid Down”

Rise up, uncovered my brother,
     From your utmost southern bay,
And you from your rolling prairie,
     Where the western breezes play,
And North, and the East go mourning
     For him who is dead today.
          O, lower the flag and drape it
               As he to his rest is borne[!]
          While the long, long bells go tolling
               Mourn ye, and mourn and mourn.

For him whom the hissing bullet
     Hath thrust into death’s dark maw;
Whose law was the tenderest mercy,
     Whose mercy was highest law;
Unfearing e’en death’s undoing,
     Brave stateman [sic] with scarce a flaw.
          O, lower the flag and drape it
               As he to his rest is borne!
          While the long, long bells go tolling
               Mourn ye[,] and mourn and mourn.

O, strange that so brave a soldier,
     At a coward’s foul command
Could falter thus in his marching,
     Could stay thus his hero hand.
          O, lower the flag and drape it
               As he to his rest is borne!
          While the long[,] long bells go tolling
               Mourn ye, and mourn and mourn.

The truest—the dearest lover
     He stands to the world confessed.
Now open your arms, Ohio,
     And gather him to his rest,
While the world stands at attention
     To him who hath done his best.
          O[,] lower the flag and drape it
               As he to his rest is borne!
          While the long[,] long bells go tolling
               Mourn ye, and mourn and mourn.