Poems (Dorr)/Alexander
ALEXANDER
There was a man whom all men called The Great. Low lying on his death-bed, we are told, He bade his courtiers (when he should be cold,Breathless, and silent in his last estate,And they who were to bury him should wait Outside the palace) that no cerecloth's fold Or winding-sheet should round his hands be rolled:Those helpless hands that once had ruled the state!Thus spake he: "On the black pall let them lie, Empty and lorn, that all the world may see How of his riches there was nothing leftTo Alexander when he came to die." Lord of two worlds, as treasureless was he As any beggar of his crust bereft!