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1809–1894

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! ‘ T is 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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MARTHA · Oliver Wendell Holmes · Poetry Cove