The Ultimate Chamber of Silent Adoration

The Ultimate Chamber of Silent Adoration

“When Robbie Ross died, […] he triumphed over both Bosie and Constance, by having his ashes interred in Oscar’s tomb.”  ~  Jonathan Fryer, Andre & Oscar:  Gide, Wilde and the Gay Art of Living, p. 238

If you have failed to win the victory of

Devotion in your life, then death may give

A darker chance to prove your lasting love.

The burial of one man might outlive

Competitors he had in life.  The mate

Who faltered in heart’s loyalty, the wife

Abandoned, fans who left him to his fate—

These all can be dismissed.  But as the life

Of one true friend concludes, then he can change

The game anew.  Alone among them all

He might at last play one last ploy, arrange

One final friendship trick.  He might appall

Them, have his ashes buried in the tomb

Of greatness—and rest forever in that room.