| Higginson and Bigelow, comps. American Sonnets. 1891. | | | | “O wholesome Death” | | By George Parsons Lathrop (1851–1898) |
| | | O WHOLESOME Death, thy sombre funeral-car | |
| Looms ever dimly on the lengthening way | |
| Of life; while, lengthening still, in sad array, | |
| My deeds in long procession go, that are | |
| As mourners of the man they helped to mar. | 5 |
| I see it all in dreams, such as waylay | |
| The wandering fancy when the solid day | |
| Has fallen in smouldering ruins, and night’s star, | |
| Aloft there, with its steady point of light | |
| Mastering the eye, has wrapped the brain in sleep. | 10 |
| Ah, when I die, and planets hold their flight | |
| Above my grave, still let my spirit keep | |
| Sometimes its vigil of divine remorse, | |
| ’Midst pity, praise, or blame heaped o’er my corse! | | | | |
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