RED EARL, and will ye take for guide | |
| The silly camel-birds, | |
| That ye bury your head in an Irish thorn, | |
| On a desert of drifting words? | |
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| Ye have followed a man for a God, Red Earl, | 5 |
| As the Lord o’ Wrong and Right; | |
| But the day is done with the setting sun— | |
| Will ye follow into the night? | |
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| He gave you your own old words, Red Earl, | |
| For food on the wastrel way; | 10 |
| Will ye rise and eat in the night, Red Earl, | |
| That fed so full in the day? | |
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| Ye have followed fast, ye have followed far, | |
| And where did the wandering lead? | |
| From the day that ye praised the spoken word | 15 |
| To the day ye must gloss the deed. | |
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| And as ye have given your hand for gain, | |
| So must ye give in loss; | |
| And as ye ha’ come to the brink of the pit, | |
| So must ye loup across. | 20 |
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| For some be rogues in grain, Red Earl, | |
| And some be rogues in fact, | |
| And rogues direct and rogues elect; | |
| But all be rogues in pact. | |
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| Ye have cast your lot with these, Red Earl; | 25 |
| Take heed to where ye stand. | |
| Ye have tied a knot with your tongue, Red Earl, | |
| That ye cannot loose with your hand. | |
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| Ye have travelled fast, ye have travelled far, | |
| In the grip of a tightening tether, | 30 |
| Till ye find at the end ye must take for friend | |
| The quick and their dead together. | |
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| Ye have played with the Law between your lips, | |
| And mouthed it daintilee; | |
| But the gist o’ the speech is ill to teach, | 35 |
| For ye say: “Let wrong go free.” | |
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| Red Earl, ye wear the Garter fair, | |
| And gat your place from a King: | |
| Do ye make Rebellion of no account, | |
| And Treason a little thing? | 40 |
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| And have ye weighed your words, Red Earl, | |
| That stand and speak so high? | |
| And is it good that the guilt o’ blood, | |
| Be cleared at the cost of a sigh? | |
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| And is it well for the sake of peace, | 45 |
| Our tattered Honour to sell, | |
| And higgle anew with a tainted crew— | |
| Red Earl, and is it well? | |
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| Ye have followed fast, ye have followed far, | |
| On a dark and doubtful way, | 50 |
| And the road is hard, is hard, Red Earl, | |
| And the price is yet to pay. | |
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| Ye shall pay that price as ye reap reward | |
| For the toil of your tongue and pen— | |
| In the praise of the blamed and the thanks of the shamed, | 55 |
| And the honour o’ knavish men. | |
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| They scarce shall veil their scorn, Red Earl, | |
| And the worst at the last shall be, | |
| When you tell your heart that it does not know | |
| And your eye that it does not see. | 60 |
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