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 | The Poetical Works of (Richard Monckton Milnes) Lord Houghton |  |
ON RETURNING TO GREECE IN 1842.
Ten years ago I deemed that if once moreI trod on Grecian soil, 'twould be to find
The presence of a great informing mind
That should the glorious past somewise restore;
And now I cry, with disappointment sore,
“Is it for this that Greece has striven and pined,—
These her rich vales with scarce a labouring hind,
These silent havens on this faded shore?”
Still patience—patience with the toils of Time;
The air of freedom is not always health,
Yet vain without it every hope sublime:
Better a nation's growth, however slow,
That is its own, than any strength or wealth
Conferred or cultured by a friend or foe.
| The Poetical Works of (Richard Monckton Milnes) Lord Houghton | |