A Child of the People And Other Poems. By James Chapman Woods |
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CODRUS. |
 | A Child of the People |  |
165
CODRUS.
January, 1877.
“Let not the king of Athens' life be shed,”
Spake Delphi to the Dorians. So their raid
Poised on Ilissus until dawn, afraid
Of harm to Codrus. Some the horses led
To water. Came a clown;—“This river-bed
Ye shall not foul!”—died on a Dorian blade.
Next morn Athenians came, glad mourners made;
“Yield us the body of our king,” they said.
Spake Delphi to the Dorians. So their raid
Poised on Ilissus until dawn, afraid
Of harm to Codrus. Some the horses led
To water. Came a clown;—“This river-bed
Ye shall not foul!”—died on a Dorian blade.
Next morn Athenians came, glad mourners made;
“Yield us the body of our king,” they said.
His monument,—in Athens no more kings,
Lest the name tarnish. Strange heroic breed!
Well may your age have half a fable grown,
For now the tide o' the world all counter swings,
And we may see, anon, a million bleed
To prop a palsied despot's tottering throne.
Lest the name tarnish. Strange heroic breed!
Well may your age have half a fable grown,
For now the tide o' the world all counter swings,
And we may see, anon, a million bleed
To prop a palsied despot's tottering throne.
| A Child of the People | |