THE BALLAD OF THE CHILDREN
OF THE CZAR
1
The children of the Czar.
Played with a bouncing ball,
In the May morning, in the Czar's garden,
Tossing it back and forth;
It fell among the flowerbeds,
Or fled to the north gate.
A daylight moon hung up
In the western sky, bald white.
Like Papa's face, said Sister,
Hurling the white ball forth.
2
While I ate a baked potato,
Three thousand miles apart,
In Brooklyn, in 1916,
Aged two, irrational.
When Franklin D. Roosevelt
Was an Arrow Collar Ad.
o
Nicholas! Alas! Alas!
My grandfather coughed in your army,
Hid in a wine-stinking barrel
For three days in Bucharest,
Then left for America
To become a king himself.
