O’ Death Tiptoe Softly Now Into My Presence #poetry

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O’ Death Tiptoe Softly Into My Presence

O’ Death tiptoe softly into my presence with a step of compassion.
If I be asleep, bid me join you with a measure of understanding.
Be mindful of my quivering heart as you beckon me to cross over
and dwell with those who are embraced forevermore in eternal peace.

Sing to me a lullaby of blessed assurance that comes now my time
to depart from the land of the living to join those who’ve gone before me.
Appease my troubled spirit; stroke my furrowed brow as you reach for my hand
and show me The Book of Life that reveals ‘tis now time to leave the living.

Tears of angst fall upon my breast as I must depart from pleasures present,
yet I find comfort in that all is well with my soul of deeds I leave behind.
Drape your shroud upon my weary shoulders so I shiver not from regret,
but rejoice that I am now released from the cold prison of my body.

The dire burden of the living shall no longer cause my gait to stumble,
as worries of past days shall find revival in the sunrise of each dawn.
I hear sounds of joy descending from The Heavens as you now claim my soul.
Calmed I am as you tiptoe softly into my presence. I am at peace!

Sheila Bowyer Kline
Inspired by the legacy of Anne Boleyn as she was executed on May 19, 1536.
She was to have penned special words of poetry in the poem titled, "O' Death Rock Me Asleep" but there is no concrete evidence that the poem was actually written by her as she awaited her execution.
Her handwriting is seen in one of 3 known prayer books of hers, referred to as a Book of Hours, only on the date of her execution to protect it at Hever Castle, England.
Her supposed final inscription on display: “Remember me when you do pray, that hope dothe led from day to day.”