Elizabeth Barrett Browning (6 March 1806 – 29 June 1861 / Durham / England)
Poems by Elizabeth Barrett Browning : 7 / 243
A Thought For A Lonely Death-Bed
IF God compel thee to this destiny,
To die alone, with none beside thy bed
To ruffle round with sobs thy last word said
And mark with tears the pulses ebb from thee,--
Pray then alone, ' O Christ, come tenderly !
By thy forsaken Sonship in the red
Drear wine-press,--by the wilderness out-spread,--
And the lone garden where thine agony
Fell bloody from thy brow,--by all of those
Permitted desolations, comfort mine !
No earthly friend being near me, interpose
No deathly angel 'twixt my face aud thine,
But stoop Thyself to gather my life's rose,
And smile away my mortal to Divine ! '
Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Submitted: Saturday, May 12, 2001
Read poems about / on: destiny, angel, alone, rose, smile, friend, red, lonely, god, death, life
Poems by Elizabeth Barrett Browning : 7 / 243
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Christ said on the cross, 'My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me? ' The line:
By thy forsaken Sonship in the red
Drear wine-press
is a reference to his crucifixion. Since the wine is the symbol of Christ's blood in communion, the cross is the 'Red drear wine-press.'
Need interpretation-'By thy forsaken Sonship in the red Drear wine-press...'