Page:The city of dreadful night - and other poems (IA cityofdreadfulni00thomrich).pdf/159

 Then a fall from lofty place Into exile and disgrace: Justice is never the thing To bring as a gift for our king.

Who has a thing to bring For a gift to our lord the king? A writer brought him truth; And first he imprisoned the youth; And then he bestowed a free pyre That the works might have plenty of fire, And also to cure the pain Of the headache called thought in the brain: Truth is a very bad thing To bring as a gift for our king.

Who has a thing to bring For a gift to our lord the king? The people brought their sure Loyalty fervid and pure; And he gave them bountiful spoil Of taxes and hunger and toil, Ignorance, brutish plight, And wholesale slaughter in fight: Loyalty's quite the worst thing To bring as a gift for our king.