Come to the bridal chamber, Death!

Come to the mother's, when she feels

For the first time her first-born's breath!

Come when the blessed seals

That close the pestilence are broke,

And crowded cities wail its stroke!

Come in consumption's ghastly form,

The earthquake shock, the ocean storm!

Come when the heart beats high and warm,

With banquet song, and dance, and wine!

And thou art terrible!—the tear,

The groan, the knell, the pall, the bier,

And all we know or dream or fear

Of agony are thine.

Alfred Bunn (1790-1860): Marco Bozzaris.

I stood in unimaginable trance

And agony that cannot be remembered.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834): Remorse. Act iv. Sc. 3.

Mightier far

Than strength of nerve or sinew, or the sway

Of magic potent over sun and star,

Is Love, though oft to agony distrest,

And though his favorite seat be feeble woman's breast.

William Wordsworth (1770-1850): Laodamia.

A solitary shriek, the bubbling cry

Of some strong swimmer in his agony.

Lord Byron 1788-1824: Don Juan. Canto ii. Stanza 53.

Charm ache with air, and agony with words.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Much Ado about Nothing. Act v. Sc. 1.