William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. The Book of Restoration Verse. 1910.
A Royal LamentationKing Charles I. (16001649)
G
The potency and power of earthly kings,
Record the royal woe my suffering sings.
(The only root of righteous royalty),
With this dim diadem invested me:
The holy unction, and the royal globe;
Yet am I levelled with the life of Job.
Upon my grief, my grey discrownèd head,
Are they that owe my bounty for their bread.
In the King’s name the King’s himself uncrowned;
So doth the dust destroy the diamond.
To make me great, t’ advance my diadem,
If I will first fall down, and worship them.
That in my absence they draw bills of hate,
To prove the King a traitor to the State.
They are allowed to answer ere they die:
’Tis death for me to ask the reason why.
Thee to forgive, and not be bitter to
Such as Thou know’st do not know what they do.
Preserve my issue, and inspire my mate;
Yet, though we perish, bless this Church and State.