| Hunt and Lee, comps. The Book of the Sonnet. 1867. | | | | II. To Nicholas, Emperor of Russia | | By Richard Chenevix Trench (1807–1886) |
| | (On His Reported Conduct towards the Poles)
WHAT would it help to call thee what thou art? | |
| When all is spoken, thou remainest still | |
| With the same power, and the same evil will | |
| To crush a nation’s life out; to dispart | |
| All holiest ties; to turn awry and thwart | 5 |
| All courses that kind Nature keeps; to spill | |
| The blood of noblest veins; to maim, or kill | |
| With torture of slow pain, the aching heart. | |
| When our weak hands hang useless, and we feel | |
| Deeds cannot be, who then would ease his breast | 10 |
| With the impotence of words? But our appeal | |
| Is unto Him who counts a nation’s tears; | |
| With whom are the oppressor and opprest, | |
| And vengeance, and the recompensing years. | | | | |
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