WILLOW and cane is all I am, with a wisp of waxen thread, Cane and willow, willow and cane, fondly, perfectly wed; But never wood for a bounding yacht was picked with a nicer thought, And nothing planned by human hand ever was deftlier wrought. Willow and cane is all I am; but here is a wondrous thing: Willow and cane is all I am, yet also am I a king! The flower of the earth my subjects are, and the throne of the cricket bat Is the rich, green turf of a level mead, and who has a throne like that? A century old is the crown I hold; nothing disturbs my reign; And men to me will bend the knee while centuries more shall wane; The Sword is great, but he rules by hate, rules with a bloody hand: Honesty, peace, and comradeship are features of my command! Scour the earth and you shall not find the like of the power I wield, For the home of the brave, the strong, the free, is the elm-girt cricket-field; Both man and boy they thrill with joy to speed the ball away— Willow and cane is all I am, yet look at the hosts I away! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...MENAPHON: SEPHESTIA'S [CRADLE] SONG TO HER CHILD by ROBERT GREENE MADRIGAL: 109 by MICHELANGELO BUONARROTI THE RETORT by GEORGE POPE MORRIS ECCE IN DESERTO by HENRY AUGUSTIN BEERS PSALM 9. CONFITEBOR TIBI by OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE ON MUSIC by WILLIAM STANLEY BRAITHWAITE FOURTH BOOK OF AIRS: SONG 9 by THOMAS CAMPION WRITTEN IN EARLY AUTUMN AT THE POOL OF SPRINKLING WATER by CHAO-TI OF HAN THE PROPHECY OF FAMINE; A SCOTS PASTORAL INSCRIBED TO JOHN WILKES by CHARLES CHURCHILL |