HE heard his loyal people cry Like children to a saint: "Help, Little Father, or we die! We starve, we freeze, we faint. The noble hears not for his crimes, The soldier, for his drum, The Procurator, for his chimes -- To thee at last we come. "To-morrow, when the bells have ceased, Before thy palace door A throng shall stand, as at a feast, Thy mercy to implore. And that with favor it be crowned, The prayer we bring to thee Shall on the Holy Cross be bound As Christ on Calvary." Then the good angel of the Czar Spake with a sibyl's voice: "Let no mischance this moment mar, 'T is sent thee to rejoice. Go meet thy people as they trudge Toward thee their weary way, To find in thee a righteous judge; @3And go unarmed as they.@1 "Enough, through centuries of wrong, Thy line's inverted fame, The Romanoff has been too long The synonym of shame. Then haste to meet the cross afar, Do thou what courage can, And thou shalt be the greater Czar If thou but show thee man." He rose, resolved; but -- fortune dire! -- One glance his purpose crossed: An impulse from some recreant sire Triumphed, and he was lost. The flower is trampled in the sod; False dawn delays the day: And once again the Will of God Marches the bloody way. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SONATA IN PATHOS by CONRAD AIKEN CHILD AND HER STATUE by LOUIS UNTERMEYER TO THE AUTHOR OF 'THE ROBBERS' (SCHILLER) by SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE EPISTLE TO SIR ROBERT WALPOLE (1) by HENRY FIELDING IF WE MUST DIE by CLAUDE MCKAY THE LAMENT OF THE FLOWERS by JONES VERY CHRISTMAS EPITHALAMIUM by WILLIAM HERVEY ALLEN JR. I AM FREEZING by JOHANNA AMBROSIUS SONGS OF NIGHT TO MORNING: 2. AND YET by GEORGE BARLOW (1847-1913) |