Who is Will, and why did he die?
This, of all, I wonder why.
When he left I felt the surge
Of pain flow though my heart and I
Thought back to all the Wills I’ve known
But none of them would cause such groan
To splinter in my heart like this;
I’d barely find a little moan.
So why at last, when chance is here
Should I cry, “Will should live!” with fear?
I only met him once but now
For all he is I shed a tear.
And so I wait with baited breath
At graveside—but with terror rings
The note of balance, weighing kings
And paupers on the scale; sings
That this one’s life, return’d on wings,
In recompense a great doom brings:
The rest of us will meet our death.