Seatonian Poems :: :: University of Virginia Library

O day of woe! O fearful loss
When to the Crescent bowed the Cross!
When Islam's swarms spread far and wide
Where Athanasius toiled and died;
And bade the foul impostor teach
Where Cyril's lips were wont to preach.
From Europe pour'd, in endless tide,
The followers of the Crucified,
And three times battling, three times foiled,
At length for Zoan's land they toiled.

147

They marshall 'neath the saintly king
Who rules his happy France;
It is a glorious gathering
Of pennon and of lance:
So brave and loving is that soul,
So noble in its self-control,
So snowy pure, that it may be
Well emblemed by its fleur-de-lys.
And Islam's sons are gathering fast,
And Islam's shout is on the blast;
And Almoadan's royal brow
With fear and woe is furrowed now:
And either chief his battle sets
In front of Cairo's minarets.

Reference is made to the Crusade of S. Louis, and its admirable description by the Sieur de Joinville.