Unlorded Poem by Ernest Hilbert

Behind us all an ancient king gone blind,
Who gropes at books, beside a queen who's lost
Her once-worshiped beauties, her taunting songs,
And all her appetites, save that for sleep.
Conceits as well have dimmed, lost hawk and hind,
And what was spent is only felt as cost.
They find they hear no more the wind that long
Ago propelled their fields to drought, put sheep
Into the earth, when rainfall loosened soil,
And, if they still recall our names and days
We took the games and shook the eaves with roars,
And laughed until we were emptied of breath,
They know we carried with us hurt and toil,
And voyaged far to get where flocks could graze,
Found humor, even happiness, in wars,
And kindness, as well, and life, in kind, in death.