March 9th, 1888

Now let the Rhine flow sad by tower and lea,
        And all the Teuton woods a requiem sing,
    Lo! he who made the nation, warrior king,
Bows at the last to death’s august decree:
Great freedom-giver, he himself is free;
    Freed from the care that crowns shall ever bring,
    From weary watch upon the foemen-ring,
From love’s last yearning towards the southern sea.

Oh! by the grim Sadowa and Sedan
    And those dark violets crushed before his car,
        The day faint Paris yielded all but pride,
    Weep for a Kaiser, glorious in war,
Warder of home, and Leader in the van
        Of Peace: for peace he toiled, in peace he died. 

(Valete: Tennyson and other Memorial Poems, p. 42)