Canto 22The Fear of Death
Book 3. Part Three - Baroda and Bengal Circa 1900 – 1909
Death wanders through our lives at will, sweet Death
Is busy with each intake of our breath.
Why do you fear her? Lo, her laughing face
All rosy with the light of jocund grace!
5A kind and lovely maiden culling flowers
In a sweet garden fresh with vernal showers,
This is the thing you fear, young portress bright
Who opens to our souls the worlds of light.
Is it because the twisted stem must feel
10Pain when the tenderest hands its glory steal?
Is it because the flowerless stalk droops dull
And ghastly now that was so beautiful?
Or is it the opening portal’s horrid jar
That shakes you, feeble souls of courage bare?
15Death is but changing of our robes to wait
In wedding garments at the Eternal’s gate.