I saw a King, who spent his life to weave
Into a nation all his great heart thought,
Unsatisfied until he should achieve
The grand ideal that his manhood sought;
Yet as he saw the end within his reach,
Death took the sceptre from his failing hand,
And all men said, “He gave his life to teach
The task of honour to a sordid land!”
Within his gates I saw, through all those years,
One at his humble toil with cheery face,
Whom (being dead) the children, half in tears,
Remembered oft, and missed him from his place.
If he be greater that his people blessed
Than he the children loved, God knoweth best.
(John McCrae)
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Based on Topics: God Poems, Mind Poems, Death & Dying Poems, Faces Poems, Place Poems, Kings & Queens Poems, Thought & Thinking Poems, Children Poems, Honor PoemsBased on Keywords: cheery, knoweth, unsatisfied, ideal