The Key-Board
William Watson 1858 (Burley in Wharfedale) – 1935 (Rottingdean)
Five-and-thirty black slaves,
Half-a-hundred white,
All their duty but to sing
For their Queen's delight,
Now with throats of thunder,
Now with dulcet lips,
While she rules them royally
With her finger-tips!
When she quits her palace,
All the slaves are dumb-
Dumb with dolour till the Queen
Back to Court is come:
Dumb the throats of thunder,
Dumb the dulcet lips,
Lacking all the sovereignty
Of her finger-tips.
Dusky slaves and pallid,
Ebon slaves and white,
When the Queen was on her throne
How you sang to-night!
Ah, the throats of thunder!
Ah, the dulcet lips!
Ah, the gracious tyrannies
Of her finger-tips!
Silent, silent, silent,
All your voices now;
Was it then her life alone
Did your life endow?
Waken, throats of thunder!
Waken, dulcet lips!
Touched to immortality
By her finger-tips.
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 41 sec read
- 49 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | xaxabcdc xexebcdC xafabcxC xgfgbcdc |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 773 |
Words | 136 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8 |
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"The Key-Board" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 18 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/42035/the-key-board>.
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