1 Life and Thought have gone away
Side by side,
Leaving door and windows wide:
Careless tenants they!
2 All within is dark as night:
In the windows is no light;
And no murmur at the door,
So frequent on its hinge before.
3 Close the door, the shutters close,
Or thro' the windows we shall see
The nakedness and vacancy
Of the dark deserted house.
4 Come away: no more of mirth
Is here or merry-making sound.
The house was builded of the earth,
And shall fall again to ground.
5 Come away: for Life and Thought
Here no longer dwell;
But in a city glorious--
A great and distant city--have bought
A mansion incorruptible.
Would they could have stayed with us!