Ballads for the Times (Now first collected,) Geraldine, A Modern Pyramid, Bartenus, A Thousand Lines, and other poems. By Martin F. Tupper. A new Edition, enlarged and revised |
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The “Clameur de Haro.”
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 | Ballads for the Times |  |
The “Clameur de Haro.”
An old Norman Appeal to the Sovereign; which saved Castle Cornet from demolition, in August 1850, Guernsey.
Haro, Haro! à l'aide, mon Prince!
A loyal people calls:
Bring out Duke Rollo's Norman lance
To stay destruction's fell advance
Against the Castle walls;—
Haro, Haro! à l'aide, ma Reine!
Thy duteous children not in vain
Plead for old Cornet yet again
To spare it, ere it falls!
What! shall Earl Rodolph's sturdy strength
After six hundred years at length
Be recklessly laid low?
His grey machicolated tower
Torn down within one outraged hour
By worse than Vandal's ruthless power?
Haro! à l'aide, Haro!
A loyal people calls:
Bring out Duke Rollo's Norman lance
To stay destruction's fell advance
Against the Castle walls;—
Haro, Haro! à l'aide, ma Reine!
Thy duteous children not in vain
Plead for old Cornet yet again
To spare it, ere it falls!
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After six hundred years at length
Be recklessly laid low?
His grey machicolated tower
Torn down within one outraged hour
By worse than Vandal's ruthless power?
Haro! à l'aide, Haro!
Nine years old Cornet, for the Throne,
Against rebellion stood alone,—
And honour'd still shall stand
For heroism so sublime,
A relic of the olden time,
Renown'd in Guernsey prose and rhyme,
The glory of her land!
Ay,—let your science scheme and plan
With better skill than so:
Touch not this dear old barbican,
Nor dare to lay it low!
On Vazon's ill-protected bay
Build and blow up, as best ye may,
And do your worst to scare away
Some visionary foe,—
But, if in brute and blundering power
You tear down Rodolph's granite tower,
Defeat, and scorn, and shame, that hour
Shall whelm you like an arrowy shower,—
Haro! à l'aide, Haro!
Against rebellion stood alone,—
And honour'd still shall stand
For heroism so sublime,
A relic of the olden time,
Renown'd in Guernsey prose and rhyme,
The glory of her land!
Ay,—let your science scheme and plan
With better skill than so:
Touch not this dear old barbican,
Nor dare to lay it low!
On Vazon's ill-protected bay
Build and blow up, as best ye may,
And do your worst to scare away
Some visionary foe,—
But, if in brute and blundering power
You tear down Rodolph's granite tower,
Defeat, and scorn, and shame, that hour
Shall whelm you like an arrowy shower,—
Haro! à l'aide, Haro!
| Ballads for the Times | |