So 'twas for this that with consuming rage Your grandsires brake their bonds, and with a flood Of rich, and ancient, and tyrannic blood Washed Serfdom out from the annals of their age; For this the barefoot Armies did engage Upon a hundred fields; for this the good Grey-headed Hugo sang of Brotherhood In many a perfect line and laurelled page! It was for this! Well, if all shame be o'er, Fawn on the Russ, and when he smites one cheek Turn to him the other too, and since 'twere weak Too seem half-hearted in such vile collapse, Trail through your festal streets the old crimson caps, And down each cesspool stuff a Tricolor! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...OUR LADY by MARY ELIZABETH COLERIDGE JOHN BROWN'S BODY by CHARLES SPRAGUE HALL THE WRECK OF THE HESPERUS by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW EROS TURANNOS by EDWIN ARLINGTON ROBINSON THE SUMMER IS ENDED (2) by CHRISTINA GEORGINA ROSSETTI THE MAGIC MIRROR by HENRY MILLS ALDEN |