Panama and Other Poems Narrative and Occasional :: :: University of Virginia Library

Dead is he who could melt the Russian snow
Sunlike, and thaw the northern enmity;
And the light-laughing city of the Gaul
So woo, that like a widow now she mourns.
Twice strong are we since he the sceptre grasped.
And be not this forgotten; that the acclaim
Of the wild crowd that throw their caps in air,
Or swaying multitude that flings huzzahs,
This was denied him; we saw not that work,
In silence wrought and many capitals;
Nor heard the timely word which bridged a sea,
Or happy whisper that a city charmed.
He used the banquet as a way to peace,
And barren ceremonial could turn
To deeper understanding of dispute.
Of this what record? Yet the genial hint
Over a wine-glass hath so much fulfilled.
Still laud we then our great Elizabeth,

Her, and those earlier Edwards, and who else
Have sagely swayed us; but of him we think
As of a man faced with a different hour,
A subtler throne, a more elusive task;
The difficult business of a sundered isle,
Yet now an isle that queens the foaming world.
Ah, never left his ears the English surf,
And in mid-feast he heard a free shore cry!
For not by written treaty ever, or peace
Torn up at will by some repentant State
The earth moves; but by wisdom such as this,
And tact supreme that never showed a flaw.
Then howsoe'er more loud and splendid seem
Conquest heroic, sad victorious fields,
Yet be it not forgotten that this King,
Bearing himself a genial gentleman,
Whispered the orb of Europe into peace.