The year of shame by William Watson With an introduction by the Bishop of Hereford |
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XVII. | XVII “IF” |
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The year of shame by William Watson | ||
53
XVII
“IF”
Yea, if ye could not, though ye would, lift hand—
Ye halting leaders—to abridge Hell's reign;
If, for some cause ye may not yet make plain,
Yearning to strike, ye stood as one may stand
Who in a nightmare sees a murder planned
And hurrying to its issue, and though fain
To stay the knife, and fearless, must remain
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If such your plight, most hapless ye of men!
But if ye could and would not, oh, what plea,
Think ye, shall stead you at your trial, when
The thunder-cloud of witnesses shall loom,
With Ravished Childhood on the seat of doom,
At the Assizes of Eternity?
The year of shame by William Watson | ||