Rulers

Fenton Johnson – 1888-1958

It is said that many a king in troubled Europe would sell his crown for a day of happiness.

I have seen a monarch who held tightly the jewel of happiness.

On Lombard street in Philadelphia, as evening dropped to earth, I gazed upon a laborer duskier than a sky devoid of moon. He was seated on a throne of flour bags, waving his hand imperiously as two small boys played on their guitars the ragtime tunes of the day. 

God’s blessing on the monarch who rules on Lombard Street in Philadelphia.

This poem is in the public domain. Published in Poem-a-Day on September 11, 2021, by the Academy of American Poets.