Long live the King!... The King is dead,
He who had sworn to rule for aye
Where now I swear to reign instead
O’er hearts that hate and hands that slay
Hearts that hate as hot as they....
Hark to my blooded sea-dogs sing:
(For fallen lord small care have they)
“The King is dead: Long live the King!”
Beneath his keel the waves were red
From tropic tide to Baltic bay;
Voices of vengeance on his head
In dying gasp from lips of grey
Livened the languor of his way;
If those dead souls do know this thing,
Chuckle they not to hear men say:
“The King is dead: Long live the King?”
The fame he wooed my name shall wed,
A world shall bend beneath my sway,
For every crimson drop he shed
Full flood will I, from out this day
When first in battle-stained array
I heard my blooded sea-dogs sing,
Standing above him where he lay:
“The King is dead: Long live the King!”
L’ENVOI
Dead foe, the world is mine today!
Yet Time to me this hour must bring
When I, as you, shall hear them say:
“The King is dead: long live the King!”