IF God compel thee to this destiny, <br />To die alone, with none beside thy bed <br />To ruffle round with sobs thy last word said <br />And mark with tears the pulses ebb from thee,-- <br />Pray then alone, ' O Christ, come tenderly ! <br />By thy forsaken Sonship in the red <br />Drear wine-press,--by the wilderness out-spread,-- <br />And the lone garden where thine agony <br />Fell bloody from thy brow,--by all of those <br />Permitted desolations, comfort mine ! <br />No earthly friend being near me, interpose <br />No deathly angel 'twixt my face aud thine, <br />But stoop Thyself to gather my life's rose, <br />And smile away my mortal to Divine ! '<br /><br />Elizabeth Barrett Browning<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/a-thought-for-a-lonely-death-bed/
