Alfred H. Miles, ed. Women Poets of the Nineteenth Century. 1907.
By Poems. II. The Paupers Death-bedCaroline (Bowles) Southey (17871854)
T
In reverent silence bow—
No passing bell doth toll—
Yet an immortal soul
Is passing now.
With lowly reverence bow;
There’s one in that poor shed—
One by that paltry bed—
Greater than thou.
Lo! Death doth keep his state:
Enter—no crowds attend—
Enter—no guards defend
This palace gate.
No smiling courtiers tread;
One silent woman stands
Lifting with meagre hands
A dying head.
An infant wail alone;
A sob suppressed—again
That short deep gasp, and then
The parting groan.
Burst are the prison bars:
This moment there, so low,
So agonised, and now
Beyond the stars!
There lies the soulless clod;
The Sun eternal breaks—
The new Immortal wakes—
Wakes with his God!