Poems (Stoddard)/The Queen Deposed
THE QUEEN DEPOSED.
I WAS the queen of Karl, a northern king: Amazon Olga, and I rode his Ban,A stallion in the royal ring Who would not bear a man.
And in Ban's saddle did I feel the pains For my first-born, the king's sole hope, his heir;My Karl himself would loose the reins, Would take me up the stair.
Low was the murmur of the royal troops Below, I saw the tapers' twinkling light;I heard a cry—"My queen, she droops!" Then fell eternal night.
No more was Olga queen for any king; The pathway round a throne she could not tread,Nor triumph in the royal ring— The boy she bore was dead!
The cloister hers; she chose the cloak and hood, And beads of olive-wood, a pouch for alms;So begged she, Christ, for thy dear rood, Laus Deo sang thy psalms!
Why am I here? This country is my king's; The lovely river, wooded hills above;Old St. Sebastian's church-bell rings— There flies the silver dove
That flitted by the day we came to praise Our gracious Mary for a granted prayer;Heralds, trumps, the same gay maze Of troops—King Karl is there!
Laus Deo with a child, and with his mate— She wins the throne by bringing him a son:Babes make or mar our queenly fate— My woman's life is done.