For other versions of this work, see If I Were King (McCarthy).
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If I Were King
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"Alas for lovers! Pair by pair
The Wind has blown them all away;
The young and yare, the fond and fair;
Where are the Snows of Yesterday?"
The Wind has blown them all away;
The young and yare, the fond and fair;
Where are the Snows of Yesterday?"
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Copyright, 1901, by Robert Howard RussellPress of the J. W. Pratt Co., New York
Dedication
To Her
Through Whom and For Whom
This Book was Written
"The Loveliest Lady this side of Heaven."
XXI. XII. MCMI.
If I were king—ah love, if I were king!
What tributary nations would I bring
To stoop before your sceptre and to swear
Allegiance to your lips and eyes and hair.
Beneath your feet what treasures I would fling:—
The stars should be your pearls upon a string,
The world a ruby for your finger ring,
And you should have the sun and moon to wear
If I were king.
What tributary nations would I bring
To stoop before your sceptre and to swear
Allegiance to your lips and eyes and hair.
Beneath your feet what treasures I would fling:—
The stars should be your pearls upon a string,
The world a ruby for your finger ring,
And you should have the sun and moon to wear
If I were king.
Let these wild dreams and wilder words take wing,
Deep in the woods I hear a shepherd sing
A simple ballad to a sylvan air,
Of love that ever finds your face more fair.
I could not give you any godlier thing
If I were king.
Deep in the woods I hear a shepherd sing
A simple ballad to a sylvan air,
Of love that ever finds your face more fair.
I could not give you any godlier thing
If I were king.
Chapters (not listed in original)
- Chapter 1: In the Fircone Tavern
- Chapter 2: Master François Villon
- Chapter 3: The Coming of Katherine
- Chapter 4: Enter Thibaut
- Chapter 5: The Voices of the Stars
- Chapter 6: Garden Love
- Chapter 7: The Answer to Burgundy
- Chapter 8: A Word With Dom Gregory
- Chapter 9: If I Were to Die To-morrow
- Chapter 10: Under Which King?
- Chapter 11: The Death of a Wanton
- Chapter 12: A Virgin's Tears
- Chapter 13: The Rede of Five Riding Rogues
- Chapter 14: The Banners of Burgundy
- Chapter 15: The Shadow of the Gallows
- Chapter 16: "We Speak to Men"
- Epilogue
This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published in 1901, before the cutoff of January 1, 1929.
The longest-living author of this work died in 1936, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 87 years or less. This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works.
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