PERHAPS too far in these considerate days Has patience carried her submissive ways; Wisdom has taught us to be calm and meek, To take one blow, and turn the other cheek; It is not written what a man shall do If the rude caitiff smite the other too! Land of our fathers, in thine hour of need God help thee, guarded by the passive creed! As the lone pilgrim trusts to beads and cowl, When through the forest rings the gray wolf's howl; As the deep galleon trusts her gilded prow When the black corsair slants athwart her bow; As the poor pheasant, with his peaceful mien, Trusts to his feathers, shining golden-green, When the dark plumage with the crimson beak Has rustled shadowy from its splintered peak, -- So trust thy friends, whose babbling tongues would charm The lifted sabre from thy foeman's arm, Thy torches ready for the answering peal From bellowing fort and thunder-freighted keel! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE ROAD TO FRANCE by DANIEL MACINTYRE HENDERSON AT THE FIRESIDE by JOHANNA AMBROSIUS IN THE DEEP WHITE SNOW by ANNE ATWOOD CRADLE SONG OF A SOLDIER'S WIFE by T. T. BARKER SONNETS WRITTEN IN AN IRISH PRISON: HER NAME LIBERTY by WILFRID SCAWEN BLUNT THE WANDERER: 3. IN ENGLAND: 'MEDIO DE FONTE LEPORUM SURGIT AMARI..' by EDWARD ROBERT BULWER-LYTTON |