University of Virginia Library

HOW SHOULD I LIKE TO DIE?

How should I like to die? you ask; and where?
Well, I will try to give an answer true;
I have not made these questions much my care—
They have not troubled me; Friend, have they you?
How would I die? Not in a far-off land,
'Mid faces strange, and voices all unknown;
No, let me feel the touch of friendly hand;
I fain would fall asleep anear mine own.
For it were sweet to die 'mongst those loved best,
The true, the tender, and the near and dear;
To lay my dying head upon their breast,
And have their kindly voices in my ear.
Pleasant to see, down-bending from above,
Affection's yearning gaze, and on it dwell;
To pass away 'mid looks and tones of love;
To catch the words of low and fond farewell.

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Where would I die? I would the call might come
'Mid old familiar scenes and cherished ties;
In some dear chamber of the hallowed home,
There would I close on earth my dying eyes.
When earthly lights are burning dim and low,
And earthly faces fade from out my sight,
And earthly voices faintly come and go,
And round me gather shadows of the night—
I then would rest my last and parting gaze
On things and persons known to me of yore,
Who made the sweetness of the happy days
When all the hours some pleasure to me bore.
So would I calmly pass from earth away,
When life is wearing to the welcome ev'n,
Falling asleep, to wake when dawns the day,
And find myself with Christ in home and heav'n.