 | Poems by John Godfrey Saxe. Complete in one volume : thirty-fifth edition |  |
A neighboring people rich in landed spoils,
But weak with ignorance and domestic broils;
A haughty nation, full of pride for what
Their fathers were, although themselves are not;
A people fond of pageants and parade,
Replete at once with gas and gasconade,
With all the vapor of the Spanish sire,
Without a flicker of Castilian fire,—
A race like this—O tell it not in Gath!—
Excites our avarice and provokes our wrath,
And so we loose the fiendish dogs of war,
And ply our stripes to gain another star!
But weak with ignorance and domestic broils;
A haughty nation, full of pride for what
Their fathers were, although themselves are not;
109
Replete at once with gas and gasconade,
With all the vapor of the Spanish sire,
Without a flicker of Castilian fire,—
A race like this—O tell it not in Gath!—
Excites our avarice and provokes our wrath,
And so we loose the fiendish dogs of war,
And ply our stripes to gain another star!
| Poems by John Godfrey Saxe. Complete in one volume : thirty-fifth edition | |