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Show THE KINGS DEPART. I see the kings depart! Scepter and crown, ' Trappings and royal raiment are laid down. The day of pomp Is done, And one by one From crowded court and hall Go the pale ghosts of kings, And all Their panoply and mad imaginings. I see them go Over white wastes of snow, Over the hills with no one in their train. Vain, oh, vain Their coronets, their thrones. The weary world disowns Their purple and their crimson. In the sky The stars are singing, and a prophecy Is written in the heavens. Soon expire Visions of kingdoms; and the long-red long-red fire Of Czars and Kaisers dwindles on the hearth Of the whole earth. This is the people's hour. The holy flower Of Freedom blooms In every stricken heart. . . . I see the kings depart! Charles Hanson Towne, in Saturday Evening Post. |