| |
| GREAT Sovereign of the earth and sea, | |
| Whose sceptre shall forever be | |
| The reign supreme of Liberty, | |
| Draw thou the veil that dims our sight, light thou our eyes, | |
| That we may see! | 5 |
| |
| Beyond the waters, east and west, | |
| Six giant legions ominous rest, | |
| Equipped and armed from sole to crest; | |
| The burdened nations groan and reel and listen for | |
| The dread behest. | 10 |
| |
| The Ottoman by the Ægean tide | |
| Is bonded; there the navies ride | |
| And train their armaments to bide | |
| The menace from the eagle’s north, or who will dare | |
| The kings allied. | 15 |
| |
| The cringing Sultan can but wait | |
| The will of other crowns; his fate | |
| Is graven in the hearts that hate | |
| And tremble at his wasting power—the curse of men— | |
| So weak, so great. | 20 |
| |
| His doom is written in the skies; | |
| His Orient Empire palsied lies, | |
| And still and still he crucifies | |
| The last bare hope that yet might save, and mocks his knell, | |
| And still defies. | 25 |
| |
| I hear the Empires muttering now,— | |
| The northern Cæsar keeps his vow, | |
| And waits and wills both where and how | |
| His sheathless sword shall smite at last; he waits and knits | |
| His iron brow. | 30 |
| |
| I see the Austrians mustering where | |
| The Adriatic’s waters glare, | |
| Or by the Danube; and they swear | |
| Eternal vigilance against the Cossack hordes | |
| So sleepless there. | 35 |
| |
| The crafty Chancellor, outworn, | |
| Who guards the German state, in scorn | |
| Watches the French frontier,—his thorn; | |
| Looks north to the Crimean gates, and eastward to | |
| The Golden Horn. | 40 |
| |
| Europa waits the signal, swells | |
| Imperial armies, still compels, | |
| From Britain to the Dardanelles, | |
| Fresh millions to her warrior camps, and millions more, | |
| For ships and shells. | 45 |
| |
| Till on her mighty, martial field | |
| The greatest products she can yield | |
| Are armëd men and sword and shield: | |
| Whole nations bent and strung for what? O Lord, thy thought | |
| Is still concealed! | 50 |
| |
| Great Sovereign of the earth and sea, | |
| Whose sceptre shall forever be | |
| The reign supreme of Liberty, | |
| Draw thou the veil that dims our sight, light thou our eyes, | |
That we may see!
CHARMIAN, 16 Feb., 1888 | 55 |
| |
