Peace and war An Ode. By William Allingham. Reprinted, by permission, from the "Daily News." |
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X.
And who shall England's eulogy recount
Or measure with a song her varied story?
Proudly their sons look round them from a mount
Of peerless long-accumulating glory;
Higher than pitch of “Roman Citizen,”
While Rome was single in the seat aloft;—
Oh, look upon her, outraged, trampled, scoffed,
And think what she was then!
Or measure with a song her varied story?
Proudly their sons look round them from a mount
Of peerless long-accumulating glory;
Higher than pitch of “Roman Citizen,”
While Rome was single in the seat aloft;—
Oh, look upon her, outraged, trampled, scoffed,
And think what she was then!
Famous nations, ruling wide,
Full of strength and full of pride,
In turn have fall'n; doth England's power
Await the knell?—May Heaven avert that hour!
Yet, England, know, that never cowardice
Brought safety, nor that near-related vice
Of over-calculation. Generous heat,
High spirit from a heart of healthy beat,
Loving and boldly doing truth and right,
Grasping a noxious weed direct and tight
And so unstung,—these qualities were thine,
And placed thee where thou sittest: but decline
Thy duty (once thy joy),—all hours that mark
Thy vile serenity, dig deep and dark,
With mystic labour silent and unknown,
The pit of shame and ruin underneath thy throne!
Full of strength and full of pride,
In turn have fall'n; doth England's power
Await the knell?—May Heaven avert that hour!
Yet, England, know, that never cowardice
Brought safety, nor that near-related vice
Of over-calculation. Generous heat,
High spirit from a heart of healthy beat,
Loving and boldly doing truth and right,
Grasping a noxious weed direct and tight
And so unstung,—these qualities were thine,
And placed thee where thou sittest: but decline
Thy duty (once thy joy),—all hours that mark
Thy vile serenity, dig deep and dark,
With mystic labour silent and unknown,
The pit of shame and ruin underneath thy throne!
| Peace and war | |