To One Shortly to Die.

Part of the cluster WHISPERS OF HEAVENLY DEATH.

TO ONE SHORTLY TO DIE.

FROM all the rest I single out you, having a message for you, You are to die—let others tell you what they please, I cannot
prevaricate, I am exact and merciless, but I love you—there is no escape for
you. Softly I lay my right hand upon you, you just feel it, I do not argue, I bend my head close and half envelop it, I sit quietly by, I remain faithful, I am more than nurse, more than parent or neighbor, I absolve you from all except yourself spiritual bodily, that is eter-
nal, you yourself will surely escape, The corpse you will leave will be but excrementitious. The sun bursts through in unlooked-for directions, Strong thoughts fill you and confidence, you smile, You forget you are sick, as I forget you are sick, You do not see the medicines, you do not mind the weeping
friends, I am with you, I exclude others from you, there is nothing to be commiserated, I do not commiserate, I congratulate you.

Part of the cluster WHISPERS OF HEAVENLY DEATH.