I love that poem of Olga's as well. She has seen her mother give compassion to others all her life and now, Olga is advicing her mother to extend the compassion and sympathy AF would give to others, to AF herself. IMO, in doing so, Olga Nikolaevna is giving her mother a key to accepting what has happened and "the new life" they find themselves in. If one accepts , morns, and shed tears, one can go on and forward, even after such calamity. When this was written, in April of 1917, they are still expecting a full, post royal life ahead in the Crimea or abroad. This is a hopeful poem as well as a very loving one. Both Alexandra and Olga felt things keenly and this poem has wise advice from one emotional person to another.
But if only you would learn to look upon,
Your own sadness from a distance
However, fate did not allow Alexandra the time or peace to follow her daughter's advice....indeed, since the guards at Ipatiev House said Olga ," was haughty like the Mother," it seems in the time from April 1917 to summer of 1918, with hope finally driven out of her, perhaps Olga came to follow her mother's lead. For how could one be open to their own sadness, when every day brought ever increasing tenion and danger? Such vulnerability requires peace and safety...which was utterly denied them.
Considing Olga Nikolaevna's known interest in poetry,( Gleb Botkin wrote she was always glad to help him with his and was good at it ) it's amazing we have only one, certain, example of hers. I hope there is a scrap book somewhere with more that will one day come to light.
