“Holding on for dear life, I was overcome with the perfect nearness of him, the ache of human solitude nearly conquered.”

“The realization that we were so near to victory made life become very dear to me. I felt near home!”

“Stay near to me and I’llStay near to you –As near as you are dear to me will do.”

“He seemed very pleased with himself for surviving a near-death experience. I could practically hear him chanting to himself: I overcame. I conquered. I’m a man etc etc.”

“Dear Friend: I have nearly died three times since morning.”

“Be near me when my light is low,When the blood creeps, and the nerves prickAnd tingle; and the heart is sick,And all the wheels of Being slow.Be near me when the sensuous frameIs rack'd with pangs that conquer trust;And Time, a maniac scattering dust,And Life, a fury slinging flame.Be near me when my faith is dry,And men the flies of latter spring,That lay their eggs, and sting and singAnd weave their petty cells and die.Be near me when I fade away,To point the term of human strife,And on the low dark verge of lifeThe twilight of eternal day.”