Poems (Barrett)/A Thought for a Lonely Death-Bed
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A THOUGHT FOR A LONELY DEATH-BED.[1]
If God compel 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,—
Then pray alone—"O Christ, come tenderly!
By Thy forsaken Sonship,—and the red
Drear wine-press,—and the wilderness outspread,—
And the lone garden where Thine agony
Fell bloody from Thy brow,—by all of those
Permitted desolations, comfort mine!
No earthly friend being near me, interpose
No deathly angel 'twixt my face and Thine;
But stoop Thyself to gather my life's rose.
And smile away my mortal to divine."
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,—
Then pray alone—"O Christ, come tenderly!
By Thy forsaken Sonship,—and the red
Drear wine-press,—and the wilderness outspread,—
And the lone garden where Thine agony
Fell bloody from Thy brow,—by all of those
Permitted desolations, comfort mine!
No earthly friend being near me, interpose
No deathly angel 'twixt my face and Thine;
But stoop Thyself to gather my life's rose.
And smile away my mortal to divine."
- ↑ Written at the request of my friend Miss Cockell, to whom it is inscribed.