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Home  »  English Poetry I  »  242. On the Queen’s Return from the Low Countries

English Poetry I: From Chaucer to Gray.
The Harvard Classics. 1909–14.

William Cartwright

242. On the Queen’s Return from the Low Countries

HALLOW the threshold, crown the posts anew!

The day shall have its due.

Twist all our victories into one bright wreath,

On which let honour breathe:

Then throw it round the temples of our Queen!

’Tis she that must preserve those glories green.

When greater tempests than on sea before

Received her on the shore;

When she was shot at ‘for the King’s own good’

By legions hired to blood;

How bravely did she do, how bravely bear!

And show’d, though they durst rage, she durst not fear.

Courage was cast about her like a dress

Of solemn comeliness:

A gather’d mind and an untroubled face

Did give her dangers grace:

Thus, arm’d with innocence, secure they move

Whose highest ‘treason’ is but highest love.