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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.

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