FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   19   20   21   22   23   24   25   26   27   28   29   30   31   32   33   34   35   36   37   38   39   40   41   42   43  
44   45   46   47   48   49   50   51   52   53   54   55   56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   >>   >|  
l the world, grown old and blind, Cease, in her dotage, to remember Thee. V GORDON _(concluded)_ Arab, Egyptian, English--by the sword Cloven, or pierced with spears, or bullet-mown-- In equal fate they sleep: their dust is grown A portion of the fiery sands abhorred. And thou, what hast thou, hero, for reward, Thou, England's glory and her shame? O'erthrown Thou liest, unburied, or with grave unknown As his to whom on Nebo's height the Lord Showed all the land of Gilead, unto Dan; Judah sea-fringed; Manasseh and Ephraim; And Jericho palmy, to where Zoar lay; And in a valley of Moab buried him, Over against Beth-Peor, but no man Knows of his sepulchre unto this day. VI THE TRUE PATRIOTISM The ever-lustrous name of patriot To no man be denied because he saw Where in his country's wholeness lay the flaw, Where, on her whiteness, the unseemly blot. England! thy loyal sons condemn thee.--What! Shall we be meek who from thine own breasts draw Our fierceness? Not ev'n _thou_ shalt overawe Us thy proud children nowise basely got. Be this the measure of our loyalty-- To feel thee noble and weep thy lapse the more. This truth by thy true servants is confess'd-- Thy sins, who love thee most, do most deplore. Know thou thy faithful! Best they honour thee Who honour in thee only what is best. VII RESTORED ALLEGIANCE Dark is thy trespass, deep be thy remorse, O England! Fittingly thine own feet bleed, Submissive to the purblind guides that lead Thy weary steps along this rugged course. Yet ... when I glance abroad, and track the source More selfish far, of other nations' deed, And mark their tortuous craft, their jealous greed, Their serpent-wisdom or mere soulless force, Homeward returns my vagrant fealty, Crying, "O England, shouldst thou one day fall, Shatter'd in ruins by some Titan foe, Justice were thenceforth weaker throughout all The world, and Truth less passionately free, And God the poorer for thine overthrow." VIII THE POLITICAL LUMINARY A skilful leech, so long as we were whole: Who scann'd the nation's every outward part, But ah! misheard the beating of its heart. Sire of huge sorrows, yet erect of soul. Swift rider with calamity for goal, Who, overtasking his equestrian art, Unstall'd a steed full willing for the start, But wondrous hard to curb or to control. Sometimes we thought he led the people forth: Anon he seemed to follow where they flew; Lord of the gol
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   19   20   21   22   23   24   25   26   27   28   29   30   31   32   33   34   35   36   37   38   39   40   41   42   43  
44   45   46   47   48   49   50   51   52   53   54   55   56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

England

 
honour
 

soulless

 
Homeward
 

returns

 

wisdom

 
purblind
 

Crying

 

remorse

 

shouldst


fealty

 
Fittingly
 

Submissive

 

serpent

 

vagrant

 

guides

 

ALLEGIANCE

 
selfish
 

trespass

 

nations


glance

 

source

 

rugged

 

jealous

 

abroad

 
RESTORED
 
tortuous
 

overtasking

 
calamity
 

equestrian


Unstall
 

sorrows

 

people

 

follow

 
thought
 

wondrous

 

Sometimes

 

control

 
passionately
 

overthrow


poorer

 
weaker
 

thenceforth

 

Shatter

 

Justice

 
POLITICAL
 

outward

 
nation
 

beating

 

misheard