A King’s Soliloquy
From the slow march and muffled drumAnd crowds distrest,And book and bell, at length I have comeTo my full rest.
A ten years’ rule beneath the sunIs wound up here,And what I have done, what left undone,Figures out clear.
Yet in the estimate of suchIt grieves me moreThat I by some was loved so muchThan that I bore,
From others, judgment of that hueWhich over-hopeBreeds from a theoretic viewOf regal scope.
For kingly opportunitiesRight many have sighed;How best to bear its devilriesThose learn who have tried!
I have eaten the fat and drunk the sweet,Lived the life outFrom the first greeting glad drum-beatTo the last shout.
What pleasure earth affords to kingsI have enjoyedThrough its long vivid pulse-stirringsEven till it cloyed.
What days of drudgery, nights of stressCan cark a throne,Even one maintained in peacefulness,I too have known.
And so, I think, could I step backTo life again,I should prefer the average trackOf average men,
Since, as with them, what kingship wouldIt cannot do,Nor to first thoughts however goodHold itself true.
Something binds hard the royal hand,As all that be,And it is That has shaped, has plannedMy acts and me.
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