The Poetical Works of David Gray A New and Enlarged Edition; Edited by Henry Glassford Bell |
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The Roman Dyke.
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 | The Poetical Works of David Gray |  |
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The Roman Dyke.
Ah! frail memorial of a thousand years!
Thou seem'st a stranger in a foreign land:
No pitying hand thy fragments, fall'n, uprears,
But useless, graceless, thou art left to stand.
And yet, across this foggy, rain-slash'd wall,
The savage tatoo'd Caledonians slew,
With gory club, the high-nosed Romans, who
With joy retreated at Antonius' call.
That stone which now I touch has handled been
By brawny Romans, who, in Latin talked
Of their fantastic foes, as, oft-times seen,
With sacred tramp of liberty they stalked.
And have they e'er been slaves? that dyke shall tell:
The Romans, Saxons, Southrons, Swedes, they've braved,
And, like proud eagles, scorned to be enslaved;
As freemen now they stand—as freemen then they fell.
On that side scorn the paths of slavery;
Here—kiss the hallowed dust of Liberty!
Thou seem'st a stranger in a foreign land:
No pitying hand thy fragments, fall'n, uprears,
But useless, graceless, thou art left to stand.
And yet, across this foggy, rain-slash'd wall,
The savage tatoo'd Caledonians slew,
With gory club, the high-nosed Romans, who
With joy retreated at Antonius' call.
That stone which now I touch has handled been
By brawny Romans, who, in Latin talked
180
With sacred tramp of liberty they stalked.
And have they e'er been slaves? that dyke shall tell:
The Romans, Saxons, Southrons, Swedes, they've braved,
And, like proud eagles, scorned to be enslaved;
As freemen now they stand—as freemen then they fell.
On that side scorn the paths of slavery;
Here—kiss the hallowed dust of Liberty!
| The Poetical Works of David Gray | |