Mary Elizabeth Coleridge (1861-1907). The King. Arthur Quiller-Couch, comp. 1922. The Oxford Book of Victorian Verse

Arthur Quiller-Couch, comp. The Oxford Book of Victorian Verse. 1922.

The King

By Mary Elizabeth Coleridge (1861–1907)


IT was but the lightest word of the King,
When he was neither merry nor sad;
It was but a very little thing,
Yet it made his servant glad.

He gave a look as it befell,	5
Between a smile and a smother’d sigh.
Whether he meant it, who can tell?
But the man went out to die.