From K. P.
(H.I.H. Grand Prince Constantine Constantinovich.)
No! I can ne’er believe, no recollection
Of life—beyond the grave we’ll bear away;
That Death doth end our joy and our affliction,
And shed deep sleep on our forgotten day?
Can eyes, when opened there, forget their seeing?
Can ears their power of hearing lose for aye?
In grave’s dark night can memories of past being
Be by the ransomed spirit cast away?
Did Raphael there forget his great “Madonna,”
What time he woke to light in realms above?
Did Shakespeare ne’er recall his Hamlet’s honour?
His Requiem hath Mozart ceased to love?
It cannot be! Nay! all that’s good, that’s holy,
We’ll live again after this life’s good-bye;
And we shall not forget, but, without passion, lowly,
We’ll love again, merged in the Deity.