That every merciful and smiling lie
Shall come to smile and curse us ere we die,
That the king standeth as a massive wall
Which leans to ruin, if it lean at all
Out of the upright line of equity;
Yet, ah, my bitter counsellor," said the king,
"When thou wouldst speak some truth that bears a sting,
I pray thee, speak as bearing love to me,
Who am of such as, lonely for their kind,
In dusty deserts of the spirit find