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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

CLOWN AND KING, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Hoop-la, hey! Cried the clown in the ring
Last Line: Life's woven good-and-ill.
Subject(s): Clowns; Courts & Courtiers; God; Grief; Life; Royal Court Life; Royalty; Kings; Queens; Sorrow; Sadness


HOOP-LA, hey! cried the clown in the ring,
(Weep, weep, said his heart.)
Alackaday! sighed the stately king,
(Leap, leap, said his heart.)

The clown's dear daughter lay a-dying,
And so his painted face was trying
To veil an anguished mind.

The king's chief rival lay a-dying;
His grief was mock, for he was trying
To make the big world blind.

Whene'er I fear there is no God,
But blindest force in star and sod,
A whisper says: There must be One
To read beneath what things are done
And grasp the doer's will;
The clown's wrung heart,
The king's cold art,
Life's woven good-and-ill.





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