The Last Hour

If your purpose 

yesterday and tomorrow 

is to protect me from danger

to stand between me 

and the abyss

where it beckons 

to drag me out of the millrace

of despair 

when the water is dark

then I would ask one other gift

will you not walk with me 

in the last hour

over the bridge of stars 

into the next world

as long as that gift

does not cost you

in your own journey 

or require a debt

to be paid to the gods.

The Guardian Angel by Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones