Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

A HUNGER SONG by WILLIAM ALEXANDER PERCY

First Line: SOME ARE FED ON KINGLY FARE
Last Line: FEED ME NOT, LOVE, ON CRUMBS.
Subject(s): DEATH; HUNGER; LOVE; SINGING & SINGERS; SOUL; DEAD, THE;
Some are fed on kingly fare,
Some starve, as fate decrees;
Of those death takes away the soul,
The body takes of these.

I would not have my soul to die;
Too soon corruption comes.
But two deaths I had rather die,
Than live and live on crumbs.

There is a banquet table set
Within a silver gate
Where lads and maidens lightly feast --
Outside the beggars wait.

Oh, starve me, food and drink denied,
Or gorge till soul succumbs,
But I'll not live as beggars do --
Feed me not, Love, on crumbs.



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