Explore "The King" by Henry Lawson on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
AMONG the sons of Englishmen / Full many feel like real tears, / For, though he reigned but scarcely ten, / He bore the burden many years. / He lived the dead past doubly down, / He shamed, by manliness and truth, / The lies that beat about a crown, / And round a known man in his youth.
For he had lived as men have done / Since Adam's time, to prove them true. / He proved it in his manhood's prime, / And to the end, as strong men do. / And so he died, and, ever since, / And on through years the words shall ring: / "He lived a man, he lived a prince, / And died a gentleman and King."
Unto the friends of his hot youth, / In his wise age, he still was true. / He showed, by steadfastness and truth, / What kings as well as men can do; / Till all was manlike or forgot, / Long years ere he found his release; / He made them loyal who were not, / He won respect, and kept the peace.