| Alfred H. Miles, ed. Women Poets of the Nineteenth Century. 1907. | | | Poems.
II. The Pauper’s Death-bed | | By Caroline (Bowles) Southey (1787–1854) |
| | | TREAD softly—bow the head— | |
| In reverent silence bow— | |
| No passing bell doth toll— | |
| Yet an immortal soul | |
| Is passing now. | 5 |
| |
| Stranger! however great, | |
| With lowly reverence bow; | |
| There’s one in that poor shed— | |
| One by that paltry bed— | |
| Greater than thou. | 10 |
| |
| Beneath that beggar’s roof, | |
| Lo! Death doth keep his state: | |
| Enter—no crowds attend— | |
| Enter—no guards defend | |
| This palace gate. | 15 |
| |
| That pavement damp and cold | |
| No smiling courtiers tread; | |
| One silent woman stands | |
| Lifting with meagre hands | |
| A dying head. | 20 |
| |
| No mingling voices sound— | |
| An infant wail alone; | |
| A sob suppressed—again | |
| That short deep gasp, and then | |
| The parting groan. | 25 |
| |
| Oh, change! oh, wondrous change! | |
| Burst are the prison bars: | |
| This moment there, so low, | |
| So agonised, and now | |
| Beyond the stars! | 30 |
| |
| Oh, change! stupendous change! | |
| There lies the soulless clod; | |
| The Sun eternal breaks— | |
| The new Immortal wakes— | |
| Wakes with his God! | 35 | | | |
|
|
