Toll the Bell for the Dead

This Kindle book (The Companion Guide to Death) is now available on Amazon by clicking here...and it is only $1.99
See my blog listing for this here.

TOLL the bell slowly, meekly, and lowly,
      There comes an inanimate clod,
Sleeping forever beyond the dark river
 A mortal has gone to his God.

Toll the bell faintly; echoes so saintly
Are sounding o'er river and lea,
Telling the living all need forgiving
Before God and eternity.

Toll the bell lightly, daily and nightly
 A spirit is watching for thee,
One that has loved us, one that has proved us,
Some fond soul who loved you and me.

Toll the bell sadly, heart-broken, madly
We kiss the cold lips of the dead,
With hope, love, and tears, run back o'er the years
To pluck out some cruel word said.