Ariel and Caliban with other poems | ||
179
XLVIII.
GLADSTONE.
For Peace, and all that follows in her path—Nor slighting honor and his country's fame,
He stood unmoved, and dared to face the blame
Of party-spirit and its turbid wrath.
He saw in vision the dread aftermath,
Should war once kindle its world-circling flame
Through Asian tribes that bear the British name.
Time few such crises for a people hath,
And few such leaders. Calmly he pursued
A course at which the feebler spirits sneered,
The bolder fumed with clamor loud and rude.
And while the world still doubted, hoped, and feared,
This chief a bloodless victory hath won—
Britannia's wisest, best, and bravest son.
June, 1885.
Ariel and Caliban with other poems | ||