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 | The Poetical Works of Aubrey De Vere |  |
XLV. NATIONAL STRENGTH.
What is it makes a Nation truly great?Her sons; her sons alone; not theirs, but they:
Glory and gold are vile as wind and clay
Unless the hands that grasp them, consecrate.
And what is that in man by which a State
Is clad in splendour like the noontide day?
Virtue: Dominion ebbs, and Arts betray;
Virtue alone endures. But what is that
Which Virtue's self doth rest on; that which yields her
Light for her feet, and daily, heavenly bread;
Which from demoniac pride, and madness shields her,
And storms that most assail the loftiest head?
156
The orphan's quivering heart and stays the widow's tears.
| The Poetical Works of Aubrey De Vere | |