We commend our brother to thee, oh earth!
To thee he returns, from thee was his birth!
Of thee was he form'd, he was nourish'd by thee;
Take the body, oh earth! the spirit is free.

Oh air! he once breath'd thee, thro' thee he surviv'd,
And in thee, and with thee, his pure spirit liv'd;
That spirit hath fled, and we yield him to thee;
His ashes be spread, like his soul, far and free.

Oh fire! we commit his dear reliques to thee,
Thou emblem of purity, spotless and free;
May his soul, like thy flames, bright and burning arise,
To its mansion of bliss, in the star-spangled skies.

Oh water! receive him; without thy kind aid
He had parch'd 'neath the sunbeams or mourn'd in the shade;
Then take of his body the share which is thine,
For the spirit hath fled from its mouldering shrine.