And, best of all, this, this, this face beyond,

This in the background, waiting on my work,

To crown the issue with a last reward!

A good time, was it not, my kingly days?

And had you not grown restless ... but I know—

'T is done and past; 't was right, my instinct said;

Too live the life grew, golden and not gray,

And I 'm the weak-eyed bat no sun should tempt

Out of the grange whose four walls make his world.

How could it end in any other way?