Hi everyone ;
Here is a poem which I found--an ode to Alexei. I copied
and pasted it. It is anonymous.
---Jesse
His was the clearest day, and his was the rain.
Bubbling, fresh, and vibrant with youthful joy ;
This blue-eyed lad oft grimaced with pain,
Possessed of a secret far too big for such a boy.
None could resist his fine enchanting smile—
Who could but love him for his impish mirth?
His light was with us, but just for awhile,
And who foresaw the end from his birth?
No sailor ever wore a nicer, nor finer bezkozirka,
Which bore in gold threads the ship STANDARDT
This mid-shipman—a true sailer and soldier by birth,
Won our love and then stole our hearts!
The strains of his balalaika can still be heard,
In rooms long empty at his royal Tsarskoe-selo.
Listen to the notes, and hear his words,
See his smile as he sings, lo, years ago.
Erect and straight in his Cossack uniform,
His playtime armies were just fun and pretend ;
Kind, compassionate, and yet a bit forlorn,
This boy stood taller than legends and men!
