NOW hath my life across a stormy sea <br />Like a frail bark reached that wide port where all <br />Are bidden, ere the final reckoning fall <br />Of good and evil for eternity. <br />Now know I well how that fond phantasy <br />Which made my soul the worshiper and thrall <br />Of earthly art, is vain; how criminal <br />Is that which all men seek unwillingly. <br />Those amorous thoughts which were so lightly dressed, <br />What are they when the double death is nigh? <br />The one I know for sure, the other dread. <br />Painting nor sculpture now can lull to rest <br />My soul that turns to His great love on high, <br />Whose arms to clasp us on the cross were spread.<br /><br />Michelangelo Buonarroti<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/on-the-brink-of-death/
