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The physician, after long putting off, gives the silent
and terrible look for an answer,
The children come hurried and weeping, and the
brothers and sisters are sent for,
Medicines stand unused on the shelf—(the camphor-smell
has long pervaded the rooms,)
The faithful hand of the living does not desert
the hand of the dying,
The twitching lips press lightly on the forehead of
the dying,
The breath ceases, and the pulse of the heart ceases,
The corpse stretches on the bed, and the living look
upon it,
It is palpable as the living are palpable.

7.The living look upon the corpse with their eye-sight,
But without eye-sight lingers a different living, and
looks curiously on the corpse.

8.To think that the rivers will flow, and the snow fall,
and fruits ripen, and act upon others as upon
us now—yet not act upon us!
To think of all these wonders of city and country,
and others taking great interest in them—and
we taking no interest in them!

9.To think how eager we are in building our houses!
To think others shall be just as eager, and we quite
indifferent!

10.I see one building the house that serves him a few
years, or seventy or eighty years at most,
I see one building the house that serves him longer
than that.