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The King is dead! Long live the King!
The King is dead! Long live the King!
Over all good things certain, this is sure indeed,
Suffer not the old King, for we know the breed.
Over all good things certain, this is sure indeed,
Suffer not the old King, for we know the breed.
A merry monarch, scandalous and poor.
A merry monarch, scandalous and poor.
Many a crown
Covers bald foreheads.
Many a crown
Covers bald foreheads.
His legs bestrid the ocean: his reared arm
Crested the world: his voice was propertied
As all read more
His legs bestrid the ocean: his reared arm
Crested the world: his voice was propertied
As all the tuned spheres, and that to friends;
But when he meant to quail and shake the orb,
He was as rattling thunder.
The Prussian Sovereigns are in possession of a crown not be the
grace of the people, but by God's read more
The Prussian Sovereigns are in possession of a crown not be the
grace of the people, but by God's grace.
For God's sake let us sit upon the ground
And tell sad stories of the death of kings!
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For God's sake let us sit upon the ground
And tell sad stories of the death of kings!
How some have been deposed, some slain in war,
Some haunted by the ghosts they have deposed,
Some poisoned by their wives, some sleeping killed--
All murdered; for within the hollow crown
That rounds the mortal temples of a king
Keeps Death his court; and there the antic sits,
Scoffing his state and grinning at his pomp;
Allowing him a breath, a little scene,
To monarchize, be feared, and kill with looks;
Infusing him with self and vain conceit,
As if this flesh which walls about our life
Were brass impregnable; and humored thus,
Comes at the last, and with a little pin
Bores through his castle wall, and farewell king!
Cover your heads, and mock not flesh and blood
With solemn reverence, Throw away respect,
Tradition, form, and ceremonious duty;
For you have but mistook me all this while.
I live with bread like you, feel want, taste grief,
Need friends. Subjected thus,
In that fierce light which beats upon a throne.
In that fierce light which beats upon a throne.
What is a king? a man condemn'd to bear
The public burthen of the nation's care.
What is a king? a man condemn'd to bear
The public burthen of the nation's care.