THE DOLE OF THE KING'S DAUGHTER
by: Oscar Wilde
- EVEN stars in the still water,
- And seven in the sky;
- Seven sins on the King's daughter,
- Deep in her soul to lie.
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- Red roses at her feet,
- (Roses are red in her red-gold hair)
- And O where her bosom and girdle meet
- Red roses are hidden there.
-
- Fair is the knight who lieth slain
- Amid the rush and reed,
- See the lean fishes that are fain
- Upon dead men to feed.
-
- Sweet is the page that lieth there,
- (Cloth of gold is goodly prey,)
- See the black ravens in the air,
- Black, O black as the night are they.
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- What do they there so stark and dead?
- (There is blood upon her hand)
- Why are the lilies flecked with red?
- (There is blood on the river sand.)
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- There are two that ride from the south to the east,
- And two from the north and west,
- For the black raven a goodly feast,
- For the King's daughter to rest.
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- There is one man who loves her true,
- (Red, O red, is the stain of gore!)
- He hath duggen a grave by the darksome yew,
- (One grave will do for four.)
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- No moon in the still heaven,
- In the black water none,
- The sins on her soul are seven,
- The sin upon his is one.
'The Dole of the King's Daughter'
was originally published in the Dublin University Magazine
in June, 1876. It was revised for Poems (1881). |
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POEMS BY OSCAR WILDE |
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