Vigil and vision New Sonnets by John Payne |
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THE NEW INVASION OF THE BARBARIANS. |
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 | Vigil and vision |  |
102
THE NEW INVASION OF THE BARBARIANS.
WHEN I consider this our modern whirl,Where all the links of life are rent apart
And all things holy, honour, faith, love, art,
Cower at the mercy of the invading churl,
Meseems, the Huns once more I see unfurl
Their banners on the heights, ere to the heart
Of the old world they surge and town and mart
And temple swamp with their resistless swirl;
Save that, to day, no saving streams there come,
Fresh from Life's fountain-head, the world's repair
To work; but from the abysses of Time's sea
The rotting wrecks of race, the ages' scum,
Float up upon the flood and fill the air
With the miasmas of putrescency.
| Vigil and vision | |