Page:Poems Piatt.djvu/162

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148
A COAT-OF-ARMS
Another Charles, who had the crown
Of Spain and Germany to hold,
But at a cloister laid it down,
And kept two hollow hands to fold.

Philip the Handsome, who will rise
From his old grave, the legends say,
And show the sun those Flemish eyes
That———yes, I mean at Judgment Day,

Louis the Grand———Madam is so
Like some one at his court, you hear
These Washington reporters, though,
Were never at his court, I fear!

Great Frederick, with his snuff (I may
Say something of great Peter, too),
And one who made kings out of clay,
And lost the world at Waterloo!

Of others, more than I could write,—
In some still cave scarce known to men
One sleeps, in his long beard's red light,
A hundred years—then sleeps again;