Coronation Speech

After all I've been through, I'll tell you this —
it's not much but it's something — be kind-hearted
always, yet never soft-headed. Otherwise,
when you are about to receive a gift
or change course in some promising way,
you'll be distracted and lose the moment.
Be positive in outlook — but when the time comes,
choose the dingy inn you come to, not
the riotous one opposite: where you'd
forget pain, abandon the journey and lose
all momentum. No, turn left and enter
the dark door as you were told to do, as you must,
and sojourn in that place with difficult
solitude, hopes that have silted to despair,
so that, next morning — whenever it comes —
you can step out freshly on the journey.
In my case, because I'm lucky, I was whizzed
through fields and woods on a fox's tail —
could drink in the scenery while being
transported from one test to the next.
On that score: if you want a quick result,
don't put the wrong bridle on the horse,
or put the bird in the wrong cage, or let
the princess farewell her parents — or save
your brothers from the gallows: they'll only
tip you down a well and take the lot.
Above all, friends, just keep on keeping on,
don't be afraid to have a go — and good luck!