 | The Poetical Works of Aubrey De Vere |  |
THE REQUITAL.
I
We too had our day; it was brief: it is ended—When a King dwelt among us; no strange King but ours!
When the shout of a People delivered ascended
And shook the broad banner that hung on his towers.
We saw it like trees in a summer breeze shiver;
We read the gold legend that blazoned it o'er:
‘To-day; now or never! To-day and for ever!’
O God, have we seen it to see it no more?
II
How fared it that season, our lords and our masters,In that spring of our freedom how fared it with you?
Did we trample your Faith? Did we mock your disasters?
We restored but his own to the leal and the true.
119
But against you we drew not that knife ye had drawn;
In the war-field we met; but your prelates and nobles
Stood up 'mid the senate in ermine and lawn!
| The Poetical Works of Aubrey De Vere | |