Were a king to come to my lowly home, Or a prince or a duke or an earl, What a cleansing would furbish the whole of the house, Till it shone as pure as a pearl! How the best that I had, on the floor and the bed, On table and mantel and wall, Would gladly be lavished and eagerly spread, And I be ashamed of it all! Yet the Monarch of monarchs, the Only Supreme, The Lord whom the heavens obey, The Splendor that passes the height of a dream, Will visit my household to-day; And the shutters are closed, and the cobwebs are thick, And a hinge is off of the door, And I, in a garment of wretchedness clad, Am down in the dirt on the floor! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...WHEN I WROTE A LITTLE by HAYDEN CARRUTH THE GIANTS OF HISTORY by JAMES GALVIN ESTRANGEMENT by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON CRITIC AND POET by EMMA LAZARUS LINES ON CARMEN SYLVA by EMMA LAZARUS STUDY FOR A GEOGRAPHICAL TRAIL; 5. MARYLAND by CLARENCE MAJOR THE DESIRE OF NATIONS by EDWIN MARKHAM |