 | English Roses |  |
WELLINGTON.
Hewn out of rock, a marble man,
He laid upon his heart
One love (in England's larger plan),
And changed all Europe's chart.
In blood he sowed the blessed seed
Of liberty and life,
And fashioned duty as our creed
Out of the awful strife.
And thus he gave us goodly bounds,
From battles' bitter lore;
Fought out on Eton's playing grounds,
And mimic fights before.
He laid upon his heart
One love (in England's larger plan),
And changed all Europe's chart.
In blood he sowed the blessed seed
Of liberty and life,
And fashioned duty as our creed
Out of the awful strife.
And thus he gave us goodly bounds,
From battles' bitter lore;
Fought out on Eton's playing grounds,
And mimic fights before.
Silent and swift with ready hand
To parry blows or thrust,
He bore the burden of command
As a great soldier must.
His prescient gaze saw through each plot,
In adverse hour or clime;
And, when he struck, he needed not
To strike a second time.
He shared his counsels but with God,
And moulded grand his age;
Invincible and stern, he trod
A solitary stage.
To parry blows or thrust,
191
As a great soldier must.
His prescient gaze saw through each plot,
In adverse hour or clime;
And, when he struck, he needed not
To strike a second time.
He shared his counsels but with God,
And moulded grand his age;
Invincible and stern, he trod
A solitary stage.
He had no equal—to his end,
Through thunder, fire and mist
He moved—and who would dare contend,
With the protagonist?
And (as no rival could) he kept
The nations in his hold,
And to the cannon music stept
Like demigods of old.
He never slaked a vulgar thirst
At any common source,
But rose by nature up the first
In right of utter force.
Through thunder, fire and mist
He moved—and who would dare contend,
With the protagonist?
And (as no rival could) he kept
The nations in his hold,
And to the cannon music stept
Like demigods of old.
He never slaked a vulgar thirst
At any common source,
But rose by nature up the first
In right of utter force.
As Atlas did upraise the sky,
He guarded England's gate;
For in his heart was destiny,
And in his fortune fate.
Above the lowly cares of men
He looked to future times,
And heard with calm and broader ken
Afar the fuller chimes.
And thus a beacon still he stands
Beyond all shade and shock,
And builded on no fleeting sands
But in our country's rock.
He guarded England's gate;
For in his heart was destiny,
And in his fortune fate.
Above the lowly cares of men
He looked to future times,
And heard with calm and broader ken
Afar the fuller chimes.
And thus a beacon still he stands
Beyond all shade and shock,
And builded on no fleeting sands
But in our country's rock.
| English Roses | |