Poems Sigourney 1834/The Bitterness of Death
THE BITTERNESS OF DEATH.
"O Death! how bitter is the remembrance of thee, to a man that is at ease in his possessions."
Ecclesiasticus IV. 1.
The rich man moved in pomp. His soul was gorged
With the gross fulness of material things,
So that it spread no pinion forth to seek
A better world than this. There was a change.
And in the sleepless chamber of disease,
Curtained and nursed, and ill-content he lay.
He had a wasted and an eager look,
And on the healer's brow he fixed a glance,
Keen—yet imploring.
What he greatly feared
Had come upon him. So he went his way—
The way of all the earth—and his lands took
Another's name.
Why dost thou come, O Death!
To print the bridal chamber with thy foot,
And leave the ruin of thy ministry,
When love, and joy, and hope, so late had hung
Their diamond cressets?
To the cradle side
Why need'st thou steal, changing to thine own hue
Of ghastly pale, the youthful mother's brow;
And for her nightly watchings, leaving nought
In payment, but a piece of marble clay.
And the torn heart-strings in her bleeding breast,
—Come to the aged, he hath sorely trod
Time's rugged road, until his staff is broke,
And his feet palsied, and his friends all gone;
Put thy cold finger on life's last faint spark,
And scarcely gasping he shall follow thee.
—Come to the saint, for he will meekly take
Thy message to his soul, and welcome thee
In Jesu's name, and bless the shadowy gate
Which thou[1] dost open.
Wait awhile, Oh Death!
For those who love this fleeting world too well,
Wait, till it force their hearts to turn away
From all its empty promises, and loathe
Its deep hypocrisy. Oh! wait for those
Who have not tasted yet of Heaven's high grace,
Nor bring them to their audit, all unclothed
With a Redeemer's righteousness.