Sonnet: “Oh! Death will find me, long before I tire”

Oh! Death will find me, long before I tire

Of watching you; and swing me suddenly

Into the shade and loneliness and mire

Of the last land! There, waiting patiently,

One day, I think, I'll feel a cool wind blowing,

See a slow light across the Stygian tide,

And hear the Dead about me stir, unknowing,

And tremble. And I shall know that you have died,

And watch you, a broad-browed and smiling dream,

Pass, light as ever, through the lightless host,

Quietly ponder, start, and sway, and gleam —

Most individual and bewildering ghost! —

And turn, and toss your brown delightful head

Amusedly, among the ancient Dead.