O BROAD-BREASTED Queen among Nations! O Mother, so strong in thy youth! Has the Lord looked upon thee in ire, And willed thou be chastened by fire, Without any ruth? Has the Merciful tired of his mercy, And turned from thy sinning in wrath, That the world with raised hands sees and pities Thy desolate daughters, thy cities, Despoiled on their path? One year since thy youngest was stricken: Thy eldest lies stricken to-day. Ah! God, was thy wrath without pity, To tear the strong heart from our city, And cast it away? O Father! forgive us our doubting; The stain from our weak souls efface; Thou rebukest, we know, but to chasten; Thy hand has but fallen to hasten Return to thy grace. Let us rise purified from our ashes As sinners have risen who grieved; Let us show that twice-sent desolation On every true heart in the nation Has conquest achieved. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...DUTY SURVIVING SELF-LOVE; THE ONLY SURE FRIEND OF DECLINING LIFE by SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE O SLEEP, MY BABE! by SARA COLERIDGE UNDER HOUSE ARREST IN WINDSOR by HENRY HOWARD AUSPEX by JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL THE COMING STORM' (A PICTURE BY R. S. GIFFORD) by HERMAN MELVILLE THE CLIFF SWALLOWS by DEBRA NYSTROM |