Canto L

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.