 | The Poetical Works of Aubrey De Vere |  |
ODE.
THE CYCLIC RENOVATION.
I
The unvanquish'd Land puts forth each yearNew growth of man and forest;
Her children vanish; but on her,
Stranger, in vain thou warrest!
128
Thick darkness round her pressing
Wrestles with God's great Angel, Time
And wins, though maim'd, the blessing.
II
As night draws in what day sent forthAs Spring is born of Winter
As flowers that hide in parent earth
Re-issue from the centre,
Our Land takes back her wasted brood,
Our Land in respiration,
Breathes from her deep heart unsubdued
A renovated nation!
III
A Nation dies: a People lives:—Through Signs Celestial ranging
A Race's Destiny survives
Unchanged, yet ever changing:
The many-centuried Wrath goes by;
But while earth's tumult rages
‘In cœlo quies.’ Burst and die
Thou storm of temporal ages!
IV
Burst, and thine utmost fury wreakOn things that are but seeming!
First kill; then die; that God may speak,
And man surcease from dreaming!
That Love and Justice strong as love
May be the poles unshaken
Round which a world new-born may move
And Truth that slept may waken!
| The Poetical Works of Aubrey De Vere | |