Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, SELIMUS: KINGS, by ROBERT GREENE


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

SELIMUS: KINGS, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Leave me, my lords, until I call you / forth
Last Line: That thinks a sceptre is a pleasant thing.
Subject(s): Courts & Courtiers; Crowns; Leadership; Wealth; Royal Court Life; Royalty; Kings; Queens; Riches; Fortunes


'Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.'

Bajazet, Emperor of Turkey.

Leave me, my lords, until I call you forth,
For I am heavy and disconsolate.
[Exit all but Bajazet.
So, Bajazet, now thou remainest alone,
Unrip the thoughts that harbour in thy breast
And eat thee up; for arbiter here's none
That may descry the cause of thy unrest,
Unless these walls thy secret thoughts declare:
And princes' walls they say unfaithful are.
Why, that's the profit of great regiment,
That all of us are subject unto fears,
And this vain shew and glorious intent,
Privy suspicion on each scruple rears.
Ay, though on all the world we make extent,
From the South Pole unto the Northern Bears,
And stretch our reign from East to Western shore,
Yet doubt and care are with us evermore.
Look how the earth clad in her summer's pride
Embroidereth her mantle gorgeously
With fragrant herbs and flowers gaily dyed,
Spreading abroad her spangled tapestry:
Yet under all a loathsome snake doth hide.
Such is our life; under crowns cares do lie,
And fear, the sceptre still attends upon.
Oh, who can take delight in kingly throne?
Public disorders joined with private cark;
Care of our friends, and of our children dear,
Do toss our lives, as waves a silly bark.
Though we be fearless, 'tis not without fear,
For hidden mischief lurketh in the dark:
And storms may fall, be the day ne'er so clear.
He knows not what it is to be a king
That thinks a sceptre is a pleasant thing.





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