 | Poems |  |
421
GARIBALDI.
Blow! let the blaring trumpet tell his name
Who with armed hand hath grasped eternal fame,
Who, with the mighty gone, with clashing strife
Shocked the dead glory of his land to life,
And gave the nations of the earth to see
His race no more a word for tears and shame,
But bade again its olden greatness be
Such as, when freemen in far Rome had birth,
With awe and wonder thunder-clouded earth,
And made for aye his lustrous Italy
A marvel and an everlasting name.
Shout! let your shouts, ye nations, tell his praise,
He, with the strength of right and justice, came
And swept the land, a fierce devouring flame
To the foul evil of its evil days,
Throning high right for rule in the world's wondering gaze.
Who with armed hand hath grasped eternal fame,
Who, with the mighty gone, with clashing strife
Shocked the dead glory of his land to life,
And gave the nations of the earth to see
His race no more a word for tears and shame,
But bade again its olden greatness be
Such as, when freemen in far Rome had birth,
With awe and wonder thunder-clouded earth,
And made for aye his lustrous Italy
A marvel and an everlasting name.
Shout! let your shouts, ye nations, tell his praise,
He, with the strength of right and justice, came
And swept the land, a fierce devouring flame
To the foul evil of its evil days,
Throning high right for rule in the world's wondering gaze.
Rejoice, old Earth, thou hast not lost
The God-like of thy earlier time
When nation-makers' mighty shadows cross'd
The radiance of thy prime,
And with their grandeur made thy years sublime;
High let their names be toss'd,
Toss'd and re-toss'd upon the thundrous voice
Of peoples who in their great acts rejoice,
Who, in their deeds, grow greater in each clime,
Feeling themselves, through them, of nobler worth.
Yes, let the tongues of men their grandeur swell
Who gave the down-trod and the chained to dwell
Henceforward freemen upon chainless earth;
And this, our great one, he shall live through time
With Bruce and Vasa—Washington and Tell;
His name, the tongues of glory shall love well.
The God-like of thy earlier time
When nation-makers' mighty shadows cross'd
The radiance of thy prime,
And with their grandeur made thy years sublime;
High let their names be toss'd,
Toss'd and re-toss'd upon the thundrous voice
Of peoples who in their great acts rejoice,
Who, in their deeds, grow greater in each clime,
Feeling themselves, through them, of nobler worth.
Yes, let the tongues of men their grandeur swell
Who gave the down-trod and the chained to dwell
Henceforward freemen upon chainless earth;
And this, our great one, he shall live through time
With Bruce and Vasa—Washington and Tell;
His name, the tongues of glory shall love well.
422
Not from the throned who bear
State and dominion—majesty and rule,
Came he. Him did God bid affliction school
In rude abodes where want and labour dwell,
Giving his youth and toiling years to wear
The robes of poverty and breathe the air
Of bracing action. Ever God does well.
Oft does the lap of luxury breed the fool;
Oft strength and greatness have been nursed by care;
Tell it, ye peoples, tell,
His glory is your own;—from you, he springs,
He who, God's vengeance, swift hath hurled down kings
And given their crowns for juster brows to wear,
Bidding the baser flee—the nobler rule.
Therefore in poor men's homes his grandeur rings.
He, of them, for them, dared such deeds to dare.
State and dominion—majesty and rule,
Came he. Him did God bid affliction school
In rude abodes where want and labour dwell,
Giving his youth and toiling years to wear
The robes of poverty and breathe the air
Of bracing action. Ever God does well.
Oft does the lap of luxury breed the fool;
Oft strength and greatness have been nursed by care;
Tell it, ye peoples, tell,
His glory is your own;—from you, he springs,
He who, God's vengeance, swift hath hurled down kings
And given their crowns for juster brows to wear,
Bidding the baser flee—the nobler rule.
Therefore in poor men's homes his grandeur rings.
He, of them, for them, dared such deeds to dare.
Him did'st thou see, O Rome, in other years,
Striking for thee, ere yet God willed,
From his loved land's eyes he should wipe the tears,
And bid its children's wailings all be stilled,
Flashing to smiles and hopes, the soul-felt fears
With which the aliens' hate their days had filled;
Him, did'st thou, changeless, see,
Great with the greatness of adversity
Borne nobly, in unwavering purpose grand,
Losing no jot of faith that, by God's hand,
His land's great destiny would be fulfilled.
Nor is the future dumb.
His swerveless faith, an awful prophet cry,
Shall not in nothingness and silence die;
Thou once-world ruler, he again shall come
Through thy glad gates—the shout of victory.
Striking for thee, ere yet God willed,
From his loved land's eyes he should wipe the tears,
And bid its children's wailings all be stilled,
Flashing to smiles and hopes, the soul-felt fears
With which the aliens' hate their days had filled;
Him, did'st thou, changeless, see,
Great with the greatness of adversity
Borne nobly, in unwavering purpose grand,
Losing no jot of faith that, by God's hand,
His land's great destiny would be fulfilled.
Nor is the future dumb.
His swerveless faith, an awful prophet cry,
Shall not in nothingness and silence die;
Thou once-world ruler, he again shall come
Through thy glad gates—the shout of victory.
And not alone thy voice,
O Italy, shall in his name rejoice,
In the proud life of strength he gives to thee;
Thy triumphs other lands exulting see.
They, gagged and fettered now,
Know they are but as thou
Wert, and laugh loud in thought of what they yet shall be,
When, 'neath armed wrong, they too no more shall bow
But nobly live, freemen amongst the free;
Lo, Hungary thinks upon thy battle-fields
And knows her own again shall soon be red,
But not with blood like that untimely shed
With thine when last she knew defeat with thee;
To her, too, God a chainless future yields.
Lo! Germans know they yet shall have one head,
Like thee. France knows her hope, too, is not dead.
O Italy, shall in his name rejoice,
In the proud life of strength he gives to thee;
Thy triumphs other lands exulting see.
They, gagged and fettered now,
Know they are but as thou
423
When, 'neath armed wrong, they too no more shall bow
But nobly live, freemen amongst the free;
Lo, Hungary thinks upon thy battle-fields
And knows her own again shall soon be red,
But not with blood like that untimely shed
With thine when last she knew defeat with thee;
To her, too, God a chainless future yields.
Lo! Germans know they yet shall have one head,
Like thee. France knows her hope, too, is not dead.
Yes, his unstained renown
On all the centuries sets a priceless crown,
And man may glory in the worth it gives,
The added worth, to our ennobled blood;
Through all our veins it pours a purer flood,
And every life, through it, more nobly lives.
Glory to him! his is that worthiest praise,
Not for himself, his mighty deed he wrought;
Of power, and rank, and wealth, he took no thought,
Like lesser great ones of our stormy days;
He, with this service, but the heart's love bought
Of the freed land he would have died to raise;
Careless, if unto him the world dealt praise
Or scorn, he moved to his great end—to be
One from whose name new splendours shall be caught,
The guide and glory of eternity.
On all the centuries sets a priceless crown,
And man may glory in the worth it gives,
The added worth, to our ennobled blood;
Through all our veins it pours a purer flood,
And every life, through it, more nobly lives.
Glory to him! his is that worthiest praise,
Not for himself, his mighty deed he wrought;
Of power, and rank, and wealth, he took no thought,
Like lesser great ones of our stormy days;
He, with this service, but the heart's love bought
Of the freed land he would have died to raise;
Careless, if unto him the world dealt praise
Or scorn, he moved to his great end—to be
One from whose name new splendours shall be caught,
The guide and glory of eternity.
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