Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, KING EDWARD VII, by CHARLES WILLIAM BRODRIBB



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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

KING EDWARD VII, by                    
First Line: He died in harness': the impending stroke
Last Line: Makes time obey him while he holds command.
Subject(s): Courts & Courtiers; Edward Vii, King Of England (1841-1910); Royal Court Life; Royalty; Kings; Queens


"He died in harness": the impending stroke
Shook not his nerve nor his high courage broke.

Calmly he faced the sure descent of fate
Heeding it not for customed cares of State;
Thrust anxious looks, imploring hands, aside,
Worked as he always worked; then sank and died.

Firm thoughts should dwell in Kings: yet in the hour
When nature warns them of the date of power,
How many at her awful voice have quailed,
Ere life has languished, ere the breath has failed!
Such weakness was not his: "no thought infirm
Altered his cheek" beneath his closing term.

No haughtier epitaph can Caesar claim
Than to be known in all his acts the same:
The Semper Idem on life's battlefield,
And in death's last assault untaught to yield:
Who, though upon time's boundary he stand,
Makes time obey him while he holds command.





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