Sissi's (Elisabeth of Austria) last testimonial for the dead Ludwig. It is said that she believed that she could communicate with his spirit beyond the grave, and that she held great hopes for the time when their hearts would stand together side by side in the Church of Altotting. I wonder if anyone here on recognises the beginning poem and might give me the poet? It's from a very old computer game, with a Prince Alexander and Princess Cassima?? : ) Anyone recognise it?

--Anon.

My dearest,

O my sweetest Black Wolf,

Your heart bled like elderberry wine -

But why a lake, my love?

Why not the Danube? Or the Rhine?

It seems too subtle,

Without much shine -

(Still, I suppose you had little time

And all was precious).

How could your scarlet heart stop,

And mine keep beating?

This was never meant to be -

I have held this life too long:

Eight long years before the torture

Was given to you.

Am only I a woman of sorrow?

To peacefully flit

From country to city,

Olive branches strewn from

Argentinea to Amsterdam,

With but a Count and nursemaid

To witness?

I can't bear to watch them

Worship you like a saint

When all you ever wanted was a

Freedom -

You would live in a log cabin

If you must,

Instead you put your trust

In ministers

And coffers half-empty for centuries.

Only one could mirror the pain I feel -

The girl who never managed to peel

Your memory from her mind.

It clung, like dead skin,

From tiny tendrils of hope

And love

And lust.

But our dreams have faded

With the summers long past,

And like all dreamers,

We're soon nothing but dust,

And as your body is committed to the soil,

I commit your memory to heart.

The one place we will ever sit again,

Side by side,

In God's eyes -

I will save my memories

For Altötting,

And our final breath.

I shed blood-red tears,

You shed all your fears

For that last solitary word

Filled with passion

And abandon.