Verses (Baughan)/Death-in-Life

by Blanche Edith Baughan

DEATH-IN-LIFE

Awhile ago I lay down in this place,
Hard by the summit of a heathery hill.
The Autumn afternoon was very still,
All things seem’d melting into sunny space.
I lay long, looking in the sky’s dear face,
Wearing my heart away with prayers, until
Nature releas’d me from my weary will,
Gave me sweet Death-in-Life.

O sovereign grace!
Gone is the misty question, “What am I?”
No part of me but in the sunlight shares.
I am become a morsel of blue sky,
A breath among the slowly-sauntering airs,
A tuft of heather, rooted where I lie—
Anything, save a creature that hath cares!