Classic Poem

A ROSE-LEAF on the snowy deck,
The high wind whirling it astern;
Nothing the wind could know or reck:
Why did the King's eye thither turn?

" The Queen has walked here! " hoarse he cried.
The courtiers, stunned, turned red, turned white;
No use if they had stammered, lied;
Aghast they fled his angry sight.

Kings' wives die quick, when kings go mad;
To death how fair and grave she goes!
What if the king knew now, she had
Shut in her hand a little rose?

And men die quick when kings have said;
Bleeding, dishonored, flung apart
In outcast field a man lies dead
With rose-leaves warm upon his heart.