Andrew Macphail, comp. The Book of Sorrow. 1916.
EuthanasiaRichard Crashaw (c. 16131649)
W
Age? would’st see December smile?
Would’st see nests of new roses grow
In a bed of reverend snow?
Warm thoughts, free spirits, flattering
Winter’s self into a Spring?
In sum, would’st see a man that can
Live to be old, and still a man?
Whose latest and most leaden hours
Fall with soft wings, stuck with soft flowers;
And when life’s sweet fable ends,
Soul and body part like friends;
No quarrels, murmurs, no delay—
A kiss, a sigh, and so—away;—
This rare one, reader, would’st thou see?
Hark hither!—and thyself be he.