IN Seventeen hundred and eighty-nine, When the nights were cold and the days were fine, An elderly miner in East Lorraine Intoned a song with an old refrain: -- "Out of the South and over the sea A Gunner is coming, a King to be." In Seventeen hundred and ninety-one, When the clouds were gathered about the sun, A singer of ballads beyond Cahors He wrote this rune on a chantry door: -- "Kings are clever and Kings are tall, But a Gunner shall swagger above them all." In Seventeen hundred and ninety-three, When the King had died for a crowd to see, The son of a tailor, presumed a fool, Repeatedly chanted about Vesoul: -- "A Colonel of guns has a horse of his own, But a Subaltern mounts to an empty throne." In Seventeen hundred and ninety-five, When men were astonied to be alive, It was said by a man on the General Staff, Who could take a position but could not laugh: -- "Out of the South and over the sea A Gunner has travelled, a King to be." | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE COTTON CLUB by CLARENCE MAJOR THE SCARECROW by WALTER JOHN DE LA MARE A SHROPSHIRE LAD: 35 by ALFRED EDWARD HOUSMAN GOD'S DETERMINATIONS: CHRIST'S REPLY by EDWARD TAYLOR THE KINGDOM OF GOD by FRANCIS THOMPSON HE SAW MY HEART'S WOE by CHARLOTTE BRONTE |