Article Text
Poem
To One Shortly to Die
Statistics from Altmetric.com
By Walt Whitman (1819–1892)
With comment by John Birtwhistle
From all the rest I single out you, having a message for you,
You are to die – let others tell you what they please, I cannot prevaricate,
I am exact and merciless, but I love you – there is no escape for you.
Softly I lay my right hand upon you, you just feel it,
I do not argue, I bend my head close and half envelop it,
I sit quietly by, I remain faithful,
I am more than nurse, more than parent or neighbor,
I absolve …