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- A MODEL FOR THE LAUREATE
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- ON thrones from China to Peru
- All sorts of kings have sat
- That men and women of all sorts
- proclaimed both good and great;
- And what's the odds if such as these
- For reason of the State
- Should keep their lovers waiting,
- Keep their lovers waiting?
- Some boast of beggar-kings and kings
- Of rascals black and white
- That rule because a strong right arm
- Puts all men in a fright,
- And drunk or sober live at ease
- Where none gainsay their right,
- And keep their lovers waiting,
- Keep their lovers waiting.
- The Muse is mute when public men
- Applaud a modern throne:
- Those cheers that can be bought or sold,
- That office fools have run,
- That waxen seal, that signature.
- For things like these what decent man
- Would keep his lover waiting,
- Keep his lover waiting?
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