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The Purple East

A series of sonnets on England's desertion of Armenia by William Watson: With a frontispiece by G. F. Watts
Watson, William (1858-1935)

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CRAVEN ENGLAND
 
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15

CRAVEN ENGLAND

Never, O craven England, nevermore
Prate thou of generous effort, righteous aim!
Betrayer of a people, know thy shame!
Summer hath passed, and Autumn's threshing-floor
Been winnowed; Winter at Armenia's door
Snarls like a wolf; and still the sword and flame
Sleep not; thou only sleepest; and the same
Cry unto heaven ascends as heretofore;
The guiltless perish, and no man regards;
And sunk in ease, and lost to noble pride,
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Stirred by no clarion blowing loud and wide,
Thy sons forget what Truth and Honour meant,
And, day by day, to sit among the shards
Of broken faith are miserably content.
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