 | A Sonnet Chronicle |  |
82
Nelson's Last Prayer
October 21, 1805.
Still every wave about our island falls
In echoing cove, on silent sand, with tears,
And still above the roaring tide one hears
The sound of sobbing, as towards St. Paul's
Men bore the sea-king of their wooden walls;
Still every flag of Empire England bears
Remembers him who gave the nation ears
To heed the voice of Duty when she calls.
In echoing cove, on silent sand, with tears,
And still above the roaring tide one hears
The sound of sobbing, as towards St. Paul's
Men bore the sea-king of their wooden walls;
Still every flag of Empire England bears
Remembers him who gave the nation ears
To heed the voice of Duty when she calls.
But not for power to blast with iron lips
The great leviathans of a tyrant foe,
Not for swift onset, do we think of thee;
Rather for this; thou died'st to make us free,
Dying did'st pray no vengeance should eclipse
The mercy victors to the vanquished owe.
The great leviathans of a tyrant foe,
Not for swift onset, do we think of thee;
Rather for this; thou died'st to make us free,
Dying did'st pray no vengeance should eclipse
The mercy victors to the vanquished owe.
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