W H Auden - Alonso to Ferdinand lyrics

Dear Son, when the warm multitudes cry, Ascend your throne majestically, But keep in mind the waters where fish See sceptres descending with no wish To touch them; sit regal and erect, But imagine sands where a crown Has the status of a broken-down Sofa or mutilated statue: Remember as bells and cannon boom The cold deep that does not envy you, The sunburnt superficial kingdom Where a king is an object. Expect no help from others, for who Talk sense to princes or refer to The scorpion in official speeches As they unveil some granite Progress Leading a child and holding a bunch Of lilies? In their Royal Zoos the Shark and the octopus are tactfully Omitted; synchronized clocks march on Within their powers; without, remain The ocean flats where no subscription Concerts are given, the desert plain Where there is nothing for lunch. Only your darkness can tell you what A prince's ornate mirror dare not, Which you should fear more-- the sea in which A tyrant sinks entangled in rich Robes while a mistress turns a white back Upon his splutter, or the desert Where an Emperor stands in his shirt While his diary is read by sneering Beggars, and far off he notices A lean horror flapping and hopping Towards him with inhuman swiftness: Learn from you dreams what you lack, For as your fears are, so you must hope. The Way of Justice is a tightrope Where no prince is safe for one instant Unless he trust his embarra**ment, As in his left ear the siren sings Meltingly of water and a night Where all flesh had peace, and on his right The efreet offers a brilliant void Where his mind could be perfectly clear And all his limitations destroyed: Many young princes soon disappear To join all the unjust kings. So if you prosper, suspect those bright Mornings when you whistle with a light Heart. You are loved; you have never seen The harbour so still, the park so green, So many well-fed pigeons upon Cupolas and triumphal arches, So many stags and slender ladies Beside the can*ls. Remember when Your climate seems a permanent home For marvelous creatures and strange men, What griefs and convulsions startled Rome, Ecbatana, Babylon. How narrow the space, how slight the chance For civil pattern and importance Between the watery vagueness and The triviality of the sand, How soon the lively trip is over From loose craving to sharp aversion, Aimless jelly to paralyzed bone; At the end of each successful day Remember that the fire and the ice Are never more than one step away From the temperate city: it is But a moment to either. But should you fail to keep your kingdom And, like your father before you, come Where thought accuses and feeling mocks, Believe your pain; praise the scorching rocks For their desiccation of your lust, Thank the bitter treatment of the tide For its dissolution of your pride, That the whirlwind may arrange your will And the deluge release it to find The spring in the desert, the fruitful Island in the sea, where flesh and mind Are delivered from mistrust. Blue the sky beyond her humming sail As I sit today by our ship's rail Watching exuberant porpoises Escort us homeward and writing this For you to open when I am gone: Read it, Ferdinand, with the blessing Of Alonso, your father, once King Of Naples, now ready to welcome d**h, but rejoicing in a new love, A new peace, having heard the solemn Music strike and seen the statue move To forgive our illusion.