1 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?

2 Shall he for whose applause we strove,
We had such reverence for his name,
See with clear eye some hidden shame,
And we be lessened in his love?
[5*]

3 We 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 through and through.

4 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.