 | Poems |  |
180
CHARLES V. BEFORE THE CONVENT OF YUSTE, 1556.
'Tis night, and storms continually roar,
Ye monks of Spain, unbar for me the door.
Ye monks of Spain, unbar for me the door.
Here in unbroken quiet let me fare,
Save when the loud bell startles me to prayer.
Save when the loud bell startles me to prayer.
Make ready for me what your house has meet,
A friar's habit and a winding-sheet.
A friar's habit and a winding-sheet.
A little cell unto my use assign:
More than the half of all this world was mine.
More than the half of all this world was mine.
The head that stoops unto the scissors now,
Under the weight of many crowns did bow.
Under the weight of many crowns did bow.
The shoulders on which now the cowl is flung,
On them the ermine of the Cæsars hung.
On them the ermine of the Cæsars hung.
I living now as dead myself behold,
And fall in ruins like this kingdom old.
And fall in ruins like this kingdom old.
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