| Edwin Arlington Robinson (1869–1935). Collected Poems. 1921. |
| |
| V. The Town Down the River |
| 18. The Sunken Crown |
| |
| NOTHING will hold him longer—let him go; | |
| Let him go down where others have gone down; | |
| Little he cares whether we smile or frown, | |
| Or if we know, or if we think we know. | |
| The call is on him for his overthrow, | 5 |
| Say we; so let him rise, or let him drown. | |
| Poor fool! He plunges for the sunken crown, | |
| And we—we wait for what the plunge may show. | |
| |
| Well, we are safe enough. Why linger, then? | |
| The watery chance was his, not ours. Poor fool! | 10 |
| Poor truant, poor Narcissus out of school; | |
| Poor jest of Ascalon; poor king of men.— | |
| The crown, if he be wearing it, may cool | |
| His arrogance, and he may sleep again. | |
|
|
