 | The Vale of Arden and Other Poems |  |
71
RUSSIA
(December, 1891)
As one, who finds the foe he sought to slay
Prostrate within the shadow of the tomb,
Forgets his wrath, so, grieving for thy doom,
Huge wrestler with starvation, we would lay
Our ancient grudge aside. The heavens are gray
With pitiless calm, and walls of winter loom
Around thy blighted plains; while he, to whom
Thou liftest ignorant hands, sits far away,
Unenvied prisoner to a fatal throne,
Spellbound, with nerveless arm and eye askance.
So vast thy misery, one hope alone
Rests—that, all else too weak, it may betide
Hunger's grim hand by dreadful paths will guide
Thy laggard feet to thy deliverance.
| The Vale of Arden and Other Poems | |