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 yet upon his couch our father lay, Sick unto death, my brothers, with one mind, Plotted abrupt destruction to my life. I did not tell the king, because I feared To lessen by one heat the throbbing of his heart. Beside his couch I knelt, and bowed my head— I, his first-born, whom all the people loved. His hot, weak hand he laid upon my hair, And blessed me with his blessing, then said on: "Thou hast beheld in Spring the dark green blade That stabs up through the unresisting earth; At last the Summer crowns it with a flower. So thou, when I am passed away, and gone to dust, Shalt wear a crown, but grander than the shrubs— The symbol of a kingdom, on thy brow. But take thee now this lesson to thy heart, And from the grass learn wisdom; wear thy crown As meekly, and as void of all display, As doth the shrub half hidden under leaves."