On which the Hohenzollern genus budded

In all that noble list

Has come across a single egoist.

They loved their people better than their throne;

Lightly they sat on it, dispensing Freedom;

They never said, "Your souls are not your own,

But simply there in case your King should need 'em;"

They would have thought it odd

To want to be regarded as a god.

Thus have I served my land; and if a wave