The Poetical Works of George Barlow In Ten [Eleven] Volumes |
 | I. |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| II. |
| III. |
| IV. |
| V. |
| VI. |
| VII. |
| VIII. |
| IX. |
| X. |
| XI. |
 | The Poetical Works of George Barlow |  |
335
SONNET XVII
THE DECLARATION OF LONDON
Nations have risen and fallen, but none as yet
While every sane and patriot voice withstands
Has signed its own death-warrant, on demands
Most paltry most irrevocably set,
Though wrath and unappeasable regret
Thrill through the hearts and spirits of friendliest lands.
Like silliest fish lured on by subtlest hands
We plunge and leap and dart into the net.
Of all man's history's base and cowardly deeds
At which the historian sickens or despairs
No cowardlier baser deed was lightlier done
Than this that eloquent infamy prepares,
This,—that will darken if the plot succeeds
Our Empire's sunlit sea-way, and the sun.
May 2, 1911.
| The Poetical Works of George Barlow | |