How shall I feel when, faint with pain,—I die alone?
“Of all the happy things that live in ocean, earth, or air,
Not one with kindred sympathy my lonely lot shall share.
My friend shall vainly scan the glance that speaks no language now;
My dog shall lick the languid hand that falters on his brow:
But none shall venture forth with me, to meet the dread unknown,
And I between two living worlds—must die alone!”
Je mourrai seul. Pascal’s words are continually cited, though only to be forgotten. Mrs. Browning feelingly and earnestly expands into a sonnet what she entitles “A Thought for a Lonely Death-bed. Inscribed to my friend E. C.”
“If God compel thee to this destiny,
To die alone,—with none beside thy bed