StoryTitle("caps", "Prospice") ?> by Robert Browning (1812-89), is the greatest death song ever written. It is a battle-song and a pćan of victory.
PoemStart() ?> PoemLine("L0", "", "\"The journey is done, the summit attained,", "") ?> PoemLine("L0", "", "And the strong man must go.\"", "") ?> PoemLine("L0", "", "\"I would hate that Death bandaged my eyes and forebore,", "") ?> PoemLine("L0", "", "And bade me creep past.\"", "") ?> PoemLine("L0", "", "\"No! let me taste the whole of it\"", "") ?> PoemLine("L0", "", "\"The reward of all.\"", "") ?> PoemEnd() ?>This poem is included in this book because these lines are enough to reconcile any one to any fate.
PoemStart() ?> PoemLine("L0", "", "Fear death?—to feel the fog in my throat,", "") ?> PoemLine("L2", "", "The mist in my face,", "") ?> PoemLine("L0", "", "When the snows begin, and the blasts denote", "") ?> PoemLine("L2", "", "I am nearing the place,", "") ?> PoemLine("L0", "", "The power of the night, the press of the storm,", "") ?> PoemLine("L2", "", "The post of the foe;", "") ?> PoemLine("L0", "", "Where he stands, the Arch Fear in a visible form,", "") ?> PoemLine("L2", "", "Yet the strong man must go:", "") ?> PoemLine("L0", "", "For the journey is done and the summit attained,", "") ?> PoemLine("L2", "", "And the barriers fall,", "") ?> PoemLine("L0", "", "Though a battle's to fight ere a guerdon be gained,", "") ?> PoemLine("L2", "", "The reward of it all.", "") ?> PoemLine("L0", "", "I was ever a fighter, so—one fight more.", "") ?> PoemLine("L2", "", "The best and the last!", "") ?> PoemLine("L0", "", "I would hate that death bandaged my eyes, and forebore,", "") ?> PoemLine("L2", "", "And bade me creep past.", "") ?> PoemLine("L0", "", "No! let me taste the whole of it, fare like my peers", "") ?> PoemLine("L2", "", "The heroes of old,", "") ?> PoemLine("L0", "", "Bear the brunt, in a minute pay glad life's arrears", "") ?> PoemLine("L2", "", "Of pain, darkness, and cold.", "") ?> PoemLine("L0", "", "For sudden the worst turns the best to the brave,", "") ?> PoemLine("L2", "", "The black minute's at end.", "") ?> PagePoem(321, "L0", "") ?> PoemLine("L0", "", "And the elements' rage, the fiend-voices that rave", "") ?> PoemLine("L2", "", "Shall dwindle, shall blend,", "") ?> PoemLine("L0", "", "Shall change, shall become first a peace out of pain,", "") ?> PoemLine("L2", "", "Then a light, then thy breast,", "") ?> PoemLine("L0", "", "O thou soul of my soul! I shall clasp thee again,", "") ?> PoemLine("L2", "", "And with God be the rest!", "") ?>