Explore "Accession" by Edith Nesbit on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
ONCE I loved, and my heart bowed down, / Subject and slave, for Love was a King; / He sat above with sceptre and crown, / Turning his eyes from my sorrowing.
The laugh of a god on his lips lay light -- / His lips victorious that mocked my pain, / And I mourned in the cold and the outer night, / And my tears and my prayers were vain.
Now the old spell is over and done, / Myself I wear the ermine and gold, / My brows are crowned, I ascend the throne, / I have taken the sceptre and orb to hold.
I smile victorious, set far above / The music of voices that moan and pray, / My feet are wet with the tears of love, / And I turn my eyes away.