Robert Browning: Fear death? -- I was ever a fighter, so -- one fight more!

I was ever a fighter, so-- one fight more,

the best and the last!

I would hate that death bandaged my eyes, and forbore, 

and bade me creep past.

No! let me taste the whole of it, fare like my peers

the heroes of old,

bear the brunt, in a minute pay glad life's arrears

of pain, darkness and cold.

For sudden the worst turns the best to the brave,

the black minute's at end,

and the elements' rage, the fiend-voices that rave,

shall dwindle, shall blend,

shall change, shall become first a peace out of pain,

then a light, then thy breast,

O thou soul of my soul! I shall clasp thee again,

and with God be the rest!

    --From the poem "Prospice,"* by Robert Browning (1812-1889)

*Prospice is Latin, imperative, for "look forward"

Comments

[Caulfield32]

I think of my father, John Caulfield when I read this inspirational poem. I can only hope that I too will be a fighter till the end of the road. That I will stand up and fight until I hear the bell. Stand toe to toe, trade blow for blow.