University of Virginia Library


31

SONG.

[What! canst thou smile, thou heart of ice?]

What! canst thou smile, thou heart of ice?
Thou! who would'st basely sacrifice,
To pet thy meanest prejudice,
The holiest hopes of man?
Or dost thou sneer, in rage and fear,
Because the hated day is near,
When gods like thee must disappear,
Or have no worshippers!
Well, smile or sneer, and worship still
Old fraud's supremacy of ill;
But bow not unto Dagon's will
The hearts of honest men.
Thy slave-adored Abaddon's name
May none but lips like thine proclaim!
And ignominious be thy fame,
Even as thy virtues are!