Edward the Pious, and two Edwards more,
The second Richard, Henrys three or four;
That is to say, those who were called the Third,
Fifth, Seventh, and Eighth (the much self-widowered),
And James the Scot, and near him Charles the Second,
And, too, the second George could there be reckoned.
Of women, Mary and Queen Elizabeth,
And Anne, all silent in a musing death;
And William’s Mary, and Mary, Queen of Scots,
And consort-queens whose names oblivion blots;
And several more whose chronicle one sees
Adorning ancient royal pedigrees.
—Now, as they drowsed on, freed from Life’s old thrall,
And heedless, save of things exceptional,
Said one: “What means this throbbing thudding sound
That reaches to us here from overground;
“A sound of chisels, augers, planes, and saws,
Infringing all ecclesiastic laws?
“And these tons-weight of timber on us pressed,
Unfelt here since we entered into rest?