Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, HIS PETITION TO QUEEN ANNE OF DENMARK (1618), by WALTER RALEIGH



Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

HIS PETITION TO QUEEN ANNE OF DENMARK (1618), by             Poem Explanation         Poet's Biography
First Line: O had truth power, the guiltless could not fall
Last Line: Who brings us equal, if not greater, bliss.
Alternate Author Name(s): Ralegh, Walter
Subject(s): Anne Of Denmark, Queen Of England


O had truth power, the guiltless could not fall,
Malice win glory, or revenge triumph;
But truth alone can not encounter all.

Mercy is fled to God, which mercy made;
Compassion dead, faith turned to policy,
Friends know not those who sit in sorrow's shade.

For what we sometime were we are no more,
Fortune hath changed our shape, and destiny
Defaced the very form we had before.

All love and all desert of former times
Malice hath covered from my sovereign's eyes,
And largely laid abroad supposed crimes.

But kings call not to mind what vassals were,
But know them now, as envy hath described them;
So can I look on no side from despair.

Cold walls, to you I speak, but you are senseless;
Celestial powers, you hear but have determined,
And shall determine to the greatest happiness.

Then unto whom shall I unfold my wrong,
Cast down my tears or hold up folded hands?
To her to whom remorse doth most belong.

To her who is the first and may alone
Be justly called the Emp'ress of the Britons.
Who should have mercy if a Queen have none?

Save those that would have died for your defense!
Save him whose thoughts no treason ever tainted!
For lo, destruction is no recompense.

If I have sold my duty, sold my faith
To strangers, which was only due to one,
No thing I should esteem so dear as death.

But if both God and time shall make you know
That I your humblest vassal am oppressed,
Then cast your eyes on undeserved woe

That I and mine may never mourn the miss
Of her we had, but praise our living Queen,
Who brings us equal, if not greater, bliss.




Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!


Other Poems of Interest...



Home: PoetryExplorer.net