Poems (Jackson)/When the Kings come
HEN the Kings come to royal hunting-seatsTo find the royal joys of summer days,The servants on the lofty watch-tower raiseA banner, whose swift token warning greetsThe country. Threatening stern, an armed man meetsEach stranger, who, by pleasant forest-ways,All unawares, has rambled till he straysToo close to paths where, in the noonday heats,The King, uncrowned, lies down to sleep. Such lawAs this the human soul sets heart and faceAnd hand, when once its King has come. In awe,And gladness too, all men behold what graceSuch royal presence to the eye can bring,And how the heart and hand can guard their King.
WHEN THE KINGS COME.
HEN the Kings come to royal hunting-seatsTo find the royal joys of summer days,The servants on the lofty watch-tower raiseA banner, whose swift token warning greetsThe country. Threatening stern, an armed man meetsEach stranger, who, by pleasant forest-ways,All unawares, has rambled till he straysToo close to paths where, in the noonday heats,The King, uncrowned, lies down to sleep. Such lawAs this the human soul sets heart and faceAnd hand, when once its King has come. In awe,And gladness too, all men behold what graceSuch royal presence to the eye can bring,And how the heart and hand can guard their King.