Bliss Carman, et al., eds. The World’s Best Poetry.
Volume VI. Fancy. 1904. | | | | Poems of Fancy: III. Mythical: Mystical: Legendary | | The King’s Highway | | Harriet Waters Preston (1836–1911) |
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I ’LL wake and watch this autumn night, | |
| Till the slow dawn is gray; | |
| Lest I should miss a noble sight | |
| Upon the King’s highway. | |
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| For now the far-enthronèd King | 5 |
| To whom all flesh shall come, | |
| A glorious message sends, to bring | |
| His exiled minstrel home; | |
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| And I may see the guards in white | |
| Troop round him, crowned with bay, | 10 |
| And many a starry torch alight, | |
| Along the King’s highway;— | |
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| May see against the ebon skies, | |
| The banners backward blow, | |
| And hear the io pæan rise | 15 |
| About them, as they go. | |
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| What vigil would it not requite, | |
| That glorious array, | |
| That sure and stately march, forthright | |
| Along the King’s highway? * * * * * | 20 |
| I heard the bells of midnight sound | |
| From many an unseen tower, | |
| But for the minstrel homeward bound | |
| I could not watch one hour. | |
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| And now, how strange the growing light, | 25 |
| How blank the morning gray! | |
| What stillness, after yesternight, | |
| Broods on the King’s highway! | |
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