Lyric Poem · Peace

A Thought For A Lonely Death-Bed

by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Reading room

1IF God compel thee to this destiny,

2To die alone, with none beside thy bed

3To ruffle round with sobs thy last word said

4And mark with tears the pulses ebb from thee, —

5Pray then alone, ' O Christ, come tenderly !

6By thy forsaken Sonship in the red

7Drear wine-press, — by the wilderness out-spread, —

8And the lone garden where thine agony

9Fell bloody from thy brow, — by all of those

10Permitted desolations, comfort mine !

11No earthly friend being near me, interpose

12No deathly angel 'twixt my face aud thine,

13But stoop Thyself to gather my life's rose,

14And smile away my mortal to Divine !

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“A Thought For A Lonely Death-Bed” by Elizabeth Barrett Browning — quilloak.com/poems/a-thought-for-a-lonely-death-bed

Quick facts

Poem: A Thought For A Lonely Death-Bed
Poet: Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Length: 14 lines
Form: Lyric Poem
Themes: Peace, Death & Loss, Nature

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Shape: 14 lines · one 14-line stanza
Line length: Mostly 10-syllable lines (pentameter length).

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Author record: Elizabeth Barrett Browning1806–1861
Source record: PoetryDBA Thought For A Lonely Death-Bed by elizabeth-barrett-browning, PoetryDB transcription
Display decision: Full text · United States · reviewed 2026-07-18
Publication record: Not recorded in the imported source
Text fingerprint: SHA-256 a9ecf46a43f8e0f7…
Editorial handling: Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.

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Lyric Poem Peace Death & Loss Nature

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