The Idealist (Service)
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| Collected in Rhymes of a Rolling Stone |
The Idealist
Oh you who have daring deeds to tell!
And you who have felt Ambition’s spell!
Have you heard of the louse who longed to dwell
In the golden hair of a queen?
He sighed all day and he sighed all night,
And no one could understand it quite,
For the head of a slut is a louse’s delight,
But he pined for the head of a queen.
So he left his kinsfolk in merry play,
And off by his lonesome he stole away,
From the home of his youth so bright and gay,
And gloriously unclean.
And at last he came to the palace gate,
And he made his way in a manner straight
(For a louse may go where a man must wait)
To the tiring-room of the queen.
The queen she spake to her tiring-maid:
“There’s something the matter, I’m afraid.
To-night ere for sleep my hair ye braid,
Just see what may be seen.”
And lo, when they combed that shining hair
They found him alone in his glory there,
And he cried: “I die, but I do not care,
For I’ve lived in the head of a queen!”
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This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published before January 1, 1923.
The author died in 1958, so this work is also in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 50 years or less. This work may also be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works. |
