Classic Poem

O R ICHARD , O my king!
Beneath thy prison bars
I touch the lute's light string,
Soft as the light of stars;
They steal into thy sight,
Unto thy soul I sing:
Awake! O captive knight!
O Richard, O my king!

(Chorus, repeat.)

O Richard, O my king!

O Richard, O my king!
Not of thine arms I sigh;
The love to thee I bring
Is of thy Poesy.
Thou king of troubadors!
List to the night bird's wing,
And twang thy prison bars,
O Richard, O my king!

O Richard, O my king!
The air it is thine own,
Made in thy life's young spring
Before thou had'st a throne;
Then music filled thy heart
Far more than anything, —
Thy sceptre was my Art,
O Richard, O my king!

O Richard, O my king!
Thy voice is singing now;
I hear its deep notes ring
Like stormwind on the bough.
Song pierced thy stone redoubt,
'Tis thy recovering:
Thy song has found thee out,
O Richard, O my king!

(Chorus, repeat.)

O Richard, O my king!