A Thought For A Lonely Death-Bed
IF God pel thee to this destiny,
To die alone, with none beside thy bed
To ruffle round with sobs thy last word said
And mark with tears the pulses ebb from thee,--
Pray then alone, O Christ, e tenderly !
By thy forsaken Sonship in the red
Drear wine-press,--by the wilderness out-spread,--
And the lone gardehine agony
Fell bloody from thy brow,--by all of those
Permitted desolations, ine !
hly friend being near me, interpose
hly awixt my face aud thine,
But stoop Thyself to gather my lifes rose,
And smile away my mortal to Divine !
Elizabeth Barrett Browning