Long Live the King
Reading edition
Long live the King!... The King is dead, He who had sworn to rule for aye Where now I swear to reign instead O’er hearts that hate and hands that slay Hearts that hate as hot as they.... Hark to my blooded sea-dogs sing: (For fallen lord small care have they) “The King is dead: Long live the King!” Beneath his keel the waves were red From tropic tide to Baltic bay; Voices of vengeance on his head In dying gasp from lips of grey Livened the languor of his way; If those dead souls do know this thing, Chuckle they not to hear men say: “The King is dead: Long live the King?” The fame he wooed my name shall wed, A world shall bend beneath my sway, For every crimson drop he shed Full flood will I, from out this day When first in battle-stained array I heard my blooded sea-dogs sing, Standing above him where he lay: “The King is dead: Long live the King!”
L’ENVOI
Dead foe, the world is mine today! Yet Time to me this hour must bring When I, as you, shall hear them say: “The King is dead: long live the King!”