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Void of all hate or terror--made them start;

For, as with gentle accents he addressed

His speech to them, on each unwilling heart Unusual awe did fall- —a spirit-quelling dart.

XV

"Ye Princes of the Earth, ye sit aghast
Amid the ruin which yourselves have
made,
Yes, Desolation heard your trumpet's It
blast,

And sprang from sleep!-dark
Terror has obeyed

Your bidding. Oh that I, whom
ye have made

Your foe, could set my dearest enemy
free

From pain and fear! But evil casts
a shade

Which cannot pass so soon, and Hate
must be

The nurse and parent still of an ill progeny.

XVI

"Ye turn to Heaven for aid in your distress;

Alas! that ye, the mighty and the wise,

Who, if ye dared, might not aspire

to less

Than ye conceive of power, should fear the lies

Which thou, and thou, didst frame for mysteries

To blind your slaves:-consider your own thought,

An empty and a cruel sacrifice Ye now prepare for a vain idol wrought Out of the fears and hate which vain desires have brought.

XVII

"Ye seek for happiness-alas the day!

Ye find it not in luxury nor in gold, Nor in the fame, nor in the envied sway,

For which, O willing slaves to
Custom old,

Severe taskmistress, ye your hearts
have sold.

Ye seek for peace, and, when ye die, to dream

No evil dreams: all mortal things are cold

And senseless then; if aught survive, I deem

must be love and joy, for they immortal seem.

XVIII

"Fear not the future, weep not for the past.

Oh could I win your ears to dare be now

Glorious and great and calm! that ye would cast

Into the dust those symbols of your

woe,

Purple and gold and steel! that ye would go

Proclaiming to the nations whence ye

came

That Want and Plague and Fear

from slavery flow;

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And from their thrones in vindica

tion sprung;

The men of faith and law then without ruth

Drew forth their secret steel, and stabbed

each ardent youth.

XX

They stabbed them in the back, and sneered a slave

Who stood behind the throne those corpses drew

Where, though with rudest rites,
Freedom and Truth

Are worshipped. From a glorious
Mother's breast

Who, since high Athens fell, among
the rest

Sate like the Queen of Nations, but in

woe,

By inbred monsters outraged and oppressed,

Turns to her chainless child for succour now,

Each to its bloody, dark, and secret It draws the milk of Power in Wisdom's

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fullest flow.

XXIII

"That land is like an eagle whose

young gaze

Feeds on the noontide beam, whose golden plume

Floats moveless on the storm, and in the blaze

Of sunrise gleams when Earth is wrapped in gloom;

An epitaph of glory for the tomb Of murdered Europe may thy fame be made,

Great People! As the sands shalt

thou become;

Thy growth is swift as morn when night must fade;

And ye have chosen your lot-your The multitudinous Earth shall sleep be

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The light of such a joy as makes the stare

Of hungry snakes like living emeralds glow

Shone in a hundred human eyes."Where, where

Is Laon? Haste! fly! drag him swiftly here!

II

Its pale eyes then; and lo! the long array

Of guards in golden arms, and priests beside,

Singing their bloody hymns, whose garbs betray

The blackness of the faith it seems

to hide;

And see the Tyrant's gem-wrought chariot glide

Among the gloomy cowls and glittering spears

A Shape of light is sitting by his side, A child most beautiful. I' the midst appears

We grant thy boon." "I put no Laon-exempt alone from mortal hopes

trust in ye;

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and fears.

III

His head and feet are bare, his hands

are bound

Behind with heavy chains, yet none

do wreak

Their scoffs on him, though myriads throng around;

There are no sneers upon his lip which speak

That scorn or hate has made him bold; his cheek

Resolve has not turned pale-his eyes

are mild

And calm, and, like the morn about to break,

Smile on mankind-his heart seems reconciled

To all things and itself, like a reposing child.

IV

Tumult was in the soul of all beside, Ill joy, or doubt, or fear; but those who saw

Their tranquil victim pass felt wonder glide

Into their brain, and became calm with awe.

See, the slow pageant near the pile doth draw.

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