Classic Poem

" Awake the King! " the warder said;
" The night is passed, the tempest fled.
Awake the King; the world would shine
Once more beneath his eyes benign.

" The storm that rocked our castle's base
Brought heavy slumber to his Grace,
And light and peace and laughing skies
Shall wake him " — when the dead arise.

Ah! deadlier than the tempest's peal,
In coward hands the traitor steel!
The Lord's anointed they that cried
" All hail! " have smitten, that he died.

They drank his cup, they brake his bread,
And in his slumber smote him dead, —
His loyal lords! — to bear through time
The crimson of that banner crime!

On him all sacred seals were set;
In him all power and mercy met;
Dead! and what kings shall rise and reign
Ere we behold his like again!