Poems (Jackson)/The Royal Beggar
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
MARVEL strange! outside the palace doors,
And begging humbly from the palace stores,
He stands and waits; and when a paltry crust
Is flung, he stoops and picks it from the dust,
And, smiling through his tears, clasps to his breast
The niggard boon; and, for the moment blest
And fed, is grateful, though the ruby wine
And milk and honey which, by right divine,
Are his, his only, and the crown of gold
God wrought for him, are to his rightful hold
Refused!
Ah Love, dear Love, nowhere on earth
Wanders uncrowned thy peer of royal birth!
Ah Love, great Love! Denied, thrust out in vain,
Kingly, though beggared! Blest through all the pain!
ENEATH the sheltering walls the thin snow clings,—
Dead winter's skeleton, left bleaching, white,
Disjointed crumbling,on unfriendly fields.
The inky pools surrender tardily
At noon, to patient herds, a frosty drink
From jagged rims of ice; a subtle red
Of life is kindling every twig and stalk
THE ROYAL BEGGAR.
MARVEL strange! outside the palace doors,And begging humbly from the palace stores,
He stands and waits; and when a paltry crust
Is flung, he stoops and picks it from the dust,
And, smiling through his tears, clasps to his breast
The niggard boon; and, for the moment blest
And fed, is grateful, though the ruby wine
And milk and honey which, by right divine,
Are his, his only, and the crown of gold
God wrought for him, are to his rightful hold
Refused!
Ah Love, dear Love, nowhere on earth
Wanders uncrowned thy peer of royal birth!
Ah Love, great Love! Denied, thrust out in vain,
Kingly, though beggared! Blest through all the pain!
MARCH.
ENEATH the sheltering walls the thin snow clings,—Dead winter's skeleton, left bleaching, white,
Disjointed crumbling,on unfriendly fields.
The inky pools surrender tardily
At noon, to patient herds, a frosty drink
From jagged rims of ice; a subtle red
Of life is kindling every twig and stalk