| William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. The Book of Georgian Verse. 1909. | | | | After the Battle | | By Thomas Moore (1779–1852) |
| | | NIGHT closed around the conqueror’s way, | |
| And lightnings showed the distant hill, | |
| Where those who lost that dreadful day | |
| Stood few and faint, but fearless still. | |
| The soldier’s hope, the patriot’s zeal, | 5 |
| For ever dimm’d, for ever crost— | |
| Oh! who shall say what heroes feel, | |
| When all but life and honour’s lost? | |
| |
| The last sad hour of freedom’s dream, | |
| And valour’s task moved slowly by, | 10 |
| While mute they watched till morning’s beam | |
| Should rise and give them light to die. | |
| There’s yet a world where souls are free, | |
| Where tyrants taint not Nature’s bliss:— | |
| If death that world’s bright opening be, | 15 |
| Oh! who would live a slave in this? | | | | |
|
|
