We have no mind to reach that Pole Where monarchs keep their icy courts, Where lords and ladies, proud and cold, May do no more than smile at sports; Nay, laughing, lying at our ease We keep our court beneath green trees. Kings' beds are soft and silvery white, While ours are golden straw or hay: So let kings lie, while gentle sleep Attends our harder beds, when they, Inside their soft white bedclothes, yell That nightmares ride them down to hell. Poor lords and ladies, what tame sport To hunt a fox or stag, while we Sit on a green bank in the sun And chase for hours a faster flea; Which blesses us from day to day, With all our faculties in play. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE REWARD by JAMES WELDON JOHNSON TWO POEMS FROM THE WAR: 2 by ARCHIBALD MACLEISH THE QUILTING by PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR VARIATIONS ON A THEME by ALFRED GOLDSWORTHY BAILEY COMMENDATORY VERSES TO MASSINGER'S PLAY, 'THE BONDMAN' by WILLIAM BASSE THE BRIDES' TRAGEDY: ACT 2, SCENE 1 by THOMAS LOVELL BEDDOES |