King David/Kings and Queens [DE LA MARE poems set to music]
Channel: tobydarling
Date: 09/09/2018

King David

    By Walter De La Mare 

Am    
King David was a sorrowful man:
Am E7
    No cause for his sorrow had he;
F C G Am
    And he called for the music of a hundred harps,
G F Am F E7
    To solace his melancholy.

    They played till they all fell silent:
    Played-and play sweet did they;
    But the sorrow that haunted the heart of King David
    They could not charm away.

    He rose; and in his garden
    Walked by the moon alone,
    A nightingale hidden in a cypress-tree
    Jargoned on and on.

Am E7   
 King David lifted his sad eyes
Am D
    Into the dark-boughed tree-
F C G Am
    ''Tell me, thou little bird that singest,
F C E7
    Who taught my grief to thee?'

Am    
But the bird in no wise heeded
Am E7
    And the king in the cool of the moon
F C G Am
    Hearkened to the nightingale's sorrowfulness,
F C Dm
    Till all his own was gone.

Kings and Queens

Am7 Bm7/A G
Eight Henries, one Mary,
Am7 Bm7/A
One Elizabeth;
C Bm F#m Bm
Crowned and throned Kings and Queens
F#m
Now lie still in death.

Am7 Bm7/A G
Four Williams, one Stephen,
Am7 Bm7/A Am7
Anne, Victoria, John:
C Bm F#m Bm
Sceptre and orb are laid aside;
F#m
All are to quiet gone.
C Bm Bb A7
And James and Charles, and Charles' sons-
Dm
They, too, have journeyed on.

Am7 Bm7/A G
Three Richards, seven Edwards
Am7 Bm7/A Am7
Their royal hour did thrive;
C Bm Bb A7
They sleep with Georges one to four:
Dm
And we praise God for five.

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