To One Shortly to Die
TO ONE SHORTLY TO DIE.
1FROM all the rest I single out you, having a messagefor 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. 2Softly 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 eternal, (The corpse you will leave will be but excrementitious.) 3The 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.