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 And sprang from sleep!-dark Your bidding. Oh that I, whom Your foe, could set my dearest enemy From pain and fear! But evil casts Which cannot pass so soon, and Hate 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 Severe taskmistress, ye your hearts 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; 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, Are worshipped. From a glorious Who, since high Athens fell, among 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 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 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; 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. |