 | Poems from the Garland of New Poetry |  |
17
HUG THE BEAR!
So 'twas for this that with consuming rage
Your grandsires brake their bonds, and with a flood
Of rich, and ancient, and tyrannic blood
Washed Serfdom out from the annals of their age;
For this the barefoot Armies did engage
Upon a hundred fields; for this the good
Grey-headed Hugo sang of Brotherhood
In many a perfect line and laurelled page!
Your grandsires brake their bonds, and with a flood
Of rich, and ancient, and tyrannic blood
Washed Serfdom out from the annals of their age;
For this the barefoot Armies did engage
Upon a hundred fields; for this the good
Grey-headed Hugo sang of Brotherhood
In many a perfect line and laurelled page!
It was for this! Well, if all shame be o'er,
Fawn on the Russ, and when he smites one cheek
Turn to him the other too, and since 'twere weak
To seem half-hearted in such vile collapse,
Trail through your festal streets the old crimson caps,
And down each cesspool stuff a Tricolor!
Fawn on the Russ, and when he smites one cheek
Turn to him the other too, and since 'twere weak
To seem half-hearted in such vile collapse,
Trail through your festal streets the old crimson caps,
And down each cesspool stuff a Tricolor!
| Poems from the Garland of New Poetry | |