[Picture: Decorative graphic]
GAY AND HANCOCK, LTD.
12 AND 13 HENRIETTA STREET, COVENT GARDEN
LONDON
1912
[_All rights reserved_]
PREFACE
_THE QUEEN’S LAST RIDE_
(_Written on the day of Queen Victoria’s funeral_)
_The Queen is taking a drive to-day_,
_They have hung with purple the carriage-way_,
_They have dressed with purple the royal track_
_Where the Queen goes forth and never comes back_.
_Let no man labour as she goes by_
_On her last appearance to mortal eye_;
_With heads uncovered let all men wait_
_For the Queen to pass in her regal state_.
_Army and Navy shall lead the way_
_For that wonderful coach of the Queen’s to-day_.
_Kings and Princes and Lords of the land_
_Shall ride behind her_, _a humble band_;
_And over the city and over the world_
_Shall the Flags of all Nations be half-mast-furled_,
_For the silent lady of royal birth_
_Who is riding away from the Courts of earth_,
_Riding away from the world’s unrest_
_To a mystical goal_, _on a secret quest_.
_Though in royal splendour she drives through town_,
_Her robes are simple_, _she wears no crown_:
_And yet she wears one_, _for widowed no more_,
_She is crowned with the love that has gone before_,
_And crowned with the love she has left behind_
_In the hidden depths of each mourner’s mind_.
_Bow low your heads—lift your hearts on high—_
_The Queen in silence is driving by_!