| I am the Cannon king, behold!
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| I perish on a throne of gold
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| With forest far and turret high
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| Renowned and rajah-rich am I
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| My father was and his before
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| With wealth we owe to war on war;
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| But let no potentate be proud
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| There are no pockets in a shroud
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| By nature I am mild and kind
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| To gentleness and truth inclined;
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| And though the pheasants over-run
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| My woods, I will not touch a gun
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| Yet while each monster that I forge
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| Thunders destruction from its gorge
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| Death’s whisper is, I vow, more loud
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| There are no pockets in a shroud
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| My time is short, my ships at sea
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| Already seem like ghosts to me
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| My millions mock me, I am poor
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| As any beggar at my door
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| My vast dominion I resign
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| Six feet of earth to claim as mine
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| Brooding with shoulders bid bitter-bowed
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| There are no pockets in a shroud
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| Dear God, let me purge pure my heart
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| And be of Heaven’s hope a part!
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| Flinging my fortune’s foul increase
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| To fight for pity, love and peace
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| Oh that I could with healing fare
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| And pledged to poverty and prayer
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| Cry high above the cringing crowd
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| «Ye fools! |
| Be not by Mammon cowed
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| There are no pockets in a shroud.» |