"NEWS to the king, good news for all!" @3The corn is trodden, the river runs red.@1 "News of the battle," the heralds call, "We have won the field; we have taken the town, We have beaten the rebels and crushed them down." @3And the dying lie with the dead.@1 "Who was my bravest?" quoth the king. @3The corn is trodden, the river runs red.@1 "Whom shall I honor for this great thing?" "Threescore were best, where none was worst; But Walter Wendulph was aye the first." @3And the dying lie with the dead.@1 "What of my husband?" quoth the bride. @3The corn is trodden, the river is red.@1 "Comes he to-morrow? how long will he bide?" "Put off thy bride-gear, busk thee in black; Walter Wendulph will never come back." @3And the dying lie with the dead.@1 | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE WHITE RABBIT by KAREN SWENSON SUMMER NIGHT-BROADWAY by LOUIS UNTERMEYER UPON THE SAYING THAT MY VERSES WERE MADE BY ANOTHER by ANNE KILLIGREW LEGEND by JOHN VAN ALSTYN WEAVER BEHIND TIME by ALEXANDER ANDERSON THE BIRDS: THE HOOPOE'S CALL TO HIS WIFE PROCNE, THE NIGHTINGALE by ARISTOPHANES |