AND is it thus, ye base and blind, And fickle as the shifting wind, Ye treat a warrior staunch and true, Grown old in combating for you? Can one false step, and made in haste, Thus cancel every service past? And have ye all at once forgot, (As whose deservings have ye not?) That Palliser, like Keppel brave, Has baffled France on yonder wave; And when his country ask'd the stake, Has pledg'd his life for England's sake? Though now he sink oppress'd with shame, Forgetful of his former fame, Yet Keppel with deserv'd applause Proclaims him bold in Britain's cause, And to his well known courage pays The tribute of heroic praise. Go learn of him whom ye adore, Whose name now sets you in a roar, Whom ye were more than half prepar'd To pay with just the same reward, To render praise where praise is due, To keep his former deeds in view Who fought and would have died for you. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...JOHN WINTER by LAURENCE BINYON LITTLE BOATIE'; A SLUMBER SONG FOR THE FISHERMAN'S CHILD by HENRY VAN DYKE THE PROPHECY OF SAMUEL SEWALL by JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER CHINESE PICTURE by EDMUND CHARLES BLUNDEN THE FLOWERS OF ETERNITY by HARRY RANDOLPH BLYTHE EPITAPH ON JAMES GRIEVE, THE LAIRD OF BOGHEAD by ROBERT BURNS |