A KING, a pope, and a kaiser, And a queen -- most fair was she -- Went sailing, sailing, sailing, Over a sunny sea. And amid them sat a beggar, A churl of low degree; And they all went sailing, sailing, Over the sunny sea. And the king said to the kaiser, And his comrades fair and free, "Let us turn adrift this beggar, This churl of low degree, For he taints the balmy odors That blow to you and me, As we travel -- sailing, sailing, Over the sunny sea." "The ship is mine," said the beggar -- That churl of low degree -- "And we're all of us sailing, sailing, To the grave o'er the sunny sea; And you may not and you cannot Get rid of mine, or me; No! not for your crowns and sceptres -- And my name is Death!" quoth he. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...LITTLE BROWN BABY by PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR THE HEART KNOWETH ITS OWN BITTERNESS' (2) by CHRISTINA GEORGINA ROSSETTI ANDROMEDA by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH FOUR SONNETS: 2 by FRANK DAVIS ASHBURN PRAISE OF WATER by THEODORE FAULLAIN DE BANVILLE |