Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Scotland: Vols. VI–VIII. 1876–79.
The King of Sweden
By William Wordsworth (1770–1850)T
To that great king; shall hail the crownéd youth
Who, taking counsel of unbending Truth,
By one example hath set forth to all
How they with dignity may stand,—or fall,
If fall they must. Now, whither doth it tend?
And what to him and his shall be the end?
That thought is one which neither can appall
Nor cheer him; for the illustrious Swede hath done
The thing which ought to be; he stands above
All consequences: work he hath begun
Of fortitude and piety and love,
Which all his glorious ancestors approve:
The heroes bless him,—him their rightful son.