 | The Poetical Works of Aubrey De Vere |  |
Hugo, you smile:
What smile like yours for mixed reproach and sweetness?
Storming at priests corrupt I saw it not;
But lavishly if I spake of Kings deposed
'Twas ever near, above or 'neath the surface.
Plainly you warned me once: ‘You'll fail in much,
Succeed in more. You'll win the Church's Freedom:
There lies your limit. Kings are lion-cubs:
God sees them ramp and roar, and bears with them:
Fret not thyself!’
What smile like yours for mixed reproach and sweetness?
Storming at priests corrupt I saw it not;
But lavishly if I spake of Kings deposed
'Twas ever near, above or 'neath the surface.
Plainly you warned me once: ‘You'll fail in much,
Succeed in more. You'll win the Church's Freedom:
There lies your limit. Kings are lion-cubs:
God sees them ramp and roar, and bears with them:
Fret not thyself!’
| The Poetical Works of Aubrey De Vere | |