Do we indeed desire the dead
      Should still be near us at our side?
      Is there no baseness we would hide?
No inner vileness that we dread?

Shall he for whose applause I strove,
      I had such reverence for his blame,
      See with clear eye some hidden shame
And I be lessen'd in his love?

I wrong the grave with fears untrue:
      Shall love be blamed for want of faith?
      There must be wisdom with great Death:
The dead shall look me thro' and thro'.

Be near us when we climb or fall:
      Ye watch, like God, the rolling hours
      With larger other eyes than ours,
To make allowance for us all.


Last modified 12 February 2010