Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE DOUBLE CROWNING, by AMELIA JOSEPHINE BURR


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE DOUBLE CROWNING, by                    
First Line: Lavish roses carpeted the ways for him
Last Line: The shouting of the people -- the silence of the king!
Subject(s): Courts & Courtiers; Grief; Royal Court Life; Royalty; Kings; Queens; Sorrow; Sadness


LAVISH roses carpeted the ways for him;
Noiseless beat his charger's feet, passing through the town.
Lavish banners made the walls ablaze for him,
Dancing like his young blue eyes beneath the golden crown.
From every crowded alley there surged into the street
A sweep of lifted faces, a wave of living foam.
Silken sleeves of maidens caressed his armoured feet;
All the bells were shouting when the king came home.

SILENT, smitten, gazed he o'er the press of them
Where upon the market-place the Crucified looked down.
Silent, smiting, fell beyond the guess of them
The shadow of the Crown of Thorns across the golden crown.
Beyond the shimmering banners he saw the walls of stone,
Below the trampled flowers the streets that had run red,
And heavy fell upon him the burden of his throne --
Amid the sheaves of gladness the harvest of the dead.

RUTHLESS ages took that hour their toll of him.
All the joyous clamour of his people could not drown
Ruthless ages crying to the soul of him,
"Evermore the Crown of Thorns beneath the golden crown!"
The heedless merry city, that trod its blossomed floor,
The rainbow of the banners, the drunken bells aswing,
The brave blue eyes whose boyhood was gone forevermore,
The shouting of the people -- the silence of the king!





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