Source identified1
Image design Botanical Sage
Read & copy
“So live, that when thy summons comes to join The innumerable caravan, which moves To that mysterious realm,”
Meaning & context
Bryant turns the poem’s long meditation on universal mortality into an appeal to live in a way that makes eventual death less degrading or fearful.
Source details
“Thanatopsis,” represented in Project Gutenberg #29700. These lines begin the poem’s closing counsel after its extended description of death and nature; the language is poetic and spiritual rather than clinical end-of-life guidance.