In the cold I will rise, I will bathe

In waters of ice; myself

Will shiver, and shrive myself,

Alone in the dawn, and anoint

Forehead and feet and hands;

I will shutter the windows from light,

I will place in their sockets the four

Tall candles and set them a-flame

In the gray of the dawn; and myself

Will lay myself straight in my bed,

And draw the sheet under my chin.

— “The Lonely Death,’’ by Adelaide Crapsey (1878-1914)