Classic and Contemporary Poetry
TO ONE SHORTLY TO DIE, by WALT WHITMAN Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: From all the rest I single out you, having a message for you Last Line: I do not commiserate, I congratulate you. Subject(s): Death; Dead, The | ||||||||
From all the rest I single out you, having a message for you, You are to die -- let others tell you what they please, I cannot prevaricate, I am exact and merciless, but I love you -- there is no escape for you. Softly I lay my right hand upon you, you just feel it, I do not argue, I bend my head close and half envelop it, I sit quietly by, I remain faithful, I am more than nurse, more than parent or neighbor, I absolve you from all except yourself spiritual bodily, that is eternal, you yourself will surely escape, The corpse you will leave will be but excrementitious. The sun bursts through in unlooked-for directions, Strong thoughts fill you and confidence, you smile, You forget you are sick, as I forget you are sick, You do not see the medicines, you do not mind the weeping friends, I am with you, I exclude others from you, there is nothing to be commiserated, I do not commiserate, I congratulate you. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A FRIEND KILLED IN THE WAR by ANTHONY HECHT FOR JAMES MERRILL: AN ADIEU by ANTHONY HECHT TARANTULA: OR THE DANCE OF DEATH by ANTHONY HECHT CHAMPS D?ÇÖHONNEUR by ERNEST HEMINGWAY NOTE TO REALITY by TONY HOAGLAND A BROADWAY PAGEANT by WALT WHITMAN |
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