 | The Poetical Works of Aubrey De Vere |  |
XXXI. THE LAW OF NATIONS.
The Law of Nations died the death that hourWhen Rome, the moulder of the Nations, fell:
O'er earth and heard by all rang out the knell
When first above the Capitolian tower
Far streamed the standard of the Lawless Power:
Nor less o'er palace, camp, and citadel
That hour a whisper crept—inaudible
To lands of honour reft, old Europe's dower;
‘Let us depart.’ Their patron Saints august
Left they that hour the Nations? We, since then,
Have seen strange omens and shall see again;
Treaties are null! no realm the rest can trust!
A shameful day draws to a stormy close:
But whence or when the vengeance no man knows.
| The Poetical Works of Aubrey De Vere | |