 | The poems of Thomas Bailey Aldrich |  |
407
XXVII
ON READING WILLIAM WATSON'S SONNETS ENTITLED “THE PURPLE EAST”
1896
Restless the Northern Bear amid his snowsCrouched by the Neva; menacing is France,
That sees the shadow of the Uhlan's lance
On her clipped borders; struggling in the throes
Of wanton war lies Spain, and deathward goes.
And thou, O England, how the time's mischance
Hath fettered thee, that with averted glance
Thou standest, marble to Armenia's woes!
If 't was thy haughty Daughter of the West
That stayed thy hand, a word had driven away
Her sudden ire, and brought her to thy breast!
Thy blood makes quick her pulses, and some day,
Not now, yet some day, at thy soft behest
She by thy side shall hold the world at bay.
| The poems of Thomas Bailey Aldrich | |