The Dying Fugitive + 

Slowly o’er his darkened features + 

Stole the warning shades of death, + 

And we knew the mystic angel + 

Waited for his parting breath. + 

He had started for his freedom, + 

And his heart beat firm and high; + 

But before he won the guerdon + 

Came the message⁠—he must die. + 

He must die when just before him + 

Lay the longed-for precious prize, + 

And the hopes that lit him onward + 

Faded out before his eyes. + 

For awhile a fearful madness + 

Rested on his weary brain, + 

And he thought the hateful tyrant + 

Had rebound his galling chain. + 

Then he cried in bitter anguish, + 

Take me where that good man dwells, + 

For a name to freedom precious + 

Lingered ’mid life’s shattered cells. + 

But as sunshine gently stealing + 

On the storm-cloud’s gloomy track, + 

Through the tempests of his bosom + 

Came the light of reason back. + 

And, without a sigh or murnur + 

For the friends he’d left behind, + 

Calmly yielded he his spirit + 

To the Father of mankind. + 

Thankful that so near to freedom + 

He with eager feet had trod, + 

Ere his ransom’d spirit rested + 

On the bosom of his God. + 