XXXIV. I have a king who does not speak

I HAVE a king who does not speak;
So, wondering, thro' the hours meek
        I trudge the day away,--
Half glad when it is night and sleep,
If, haply, thro' a dream to peep
        In parlors shut by day.

And if I do, when morning comes,
It is as if a hundred drums
        Did round my pillow roll.
And shouts fill all my childish sky,
And bells keep saying 'victory'
        From steeples in my soul!

And if I don't, the little Bird
Within the Orchard is not heard,
        And I omit to pray,
'Father, thy will be done' to-day,
For my will goes the other way,
        And it were perjury!