Facing Death

The wise one should, with spirit calm,
Reflect that death can bring no harm:
For there may be, as poets tell,
A place where after death we dwell,
And there in glory meet at last
The noble heroes of the past.

And if I wholly cease to be
When death at last shall come to me
Then I for one will count it gain
To be beyond the reach of pain:
For nothing then can cause me fright
If death be but a single night.

The wise and good should never dread
Whichever fate awaits the dead:
To live again, or rest in sleep,
Gives no one any cause to weep:
So may one tread with footsteps brave
The path that leads one to the grave