 | The Poetical Works of Aubrey De Vere |  |
VII. THE SPANISH ARMADA AND THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS.
A Spanish fleet affront our English shores!It must not be; it shall not! Sink or swim
Our Cause, our lamp of Hope burn bright or dim,
Long as o'er English cliffs the osprey soars,
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No alien flag shall scale our blue sea-rim,
No smoke from Spanish gun our skies bedim,
No foot from Parma stain our household floors!
Fair sirs, we question not your true intent
To prop true Faith, and Queens in wedlock born:
But foreign aid, and arms, and arts we scorn:
To native hearts and hands we trust the event:
The Right is ours; with God the arbitrament:
At worst, beyond His night remains His morn!
| The Poetical Works of Aubrey De Vere | |