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- THE BLACK TOWER
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- SAY that the men of the old black tower,
- Though they but feed as the goatherd feeds,
- Their money spent, their wine gone sour,
- Lack nothing that a soldier needs,
- That all are oath-bound men:
- Those banners come not in.
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- i{There in the tomb stand the dead upright,}
- i{But winds come up from the shore:}
- i{They shake when the winds roar,}
- i{Old bones upon the mountain shake.}
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- Those banners come to bribe or threaten,
- Or whisper that a man's a fool
- Who, when his own right king's forgotten,
- Cares what king sets up his rule.
- If he died long ago
- Why do yopu dread us so?
-
- i{There in the tomb drops the faint moonlight,}
- i{But wind comes up from the shore:}
- i{They shake when the winds roar,}
- i{Old bones upon the mountain shake.}
-
- The tower's old cook that must climb and clamber
- Catching small birds in the dew of the morn
- When we hale men lie stretched in slumber
- Swears that he hears the king's great horn.
- But he's a lying hound:
- Stand we on guard oath-bound!
-
- i{There in the tomb the dark grows blacker,}
- i{But wind comes up from the shore:}
- i{They shake when the winds roar,}
- i{Old bones upon the mountain shake.}
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