HE knew the mask of principle to wear, And power accept while seeming to decline: So cunningly he wrought, with tools so fine, Setting his courses with so frank an air, (Yet most secure when seeming most to dare,) He did deceive us all: with mien benign His malice smiled, his cowardice the sign Of courage took, his selfishness grew fair, So deftly could his foiled ambition show As modest acquiescence. Now, it is clear What man he is, -- how false his high report; Mean to the friend, caressing to the foe; Plotting the mischief which he feigns to fear: Chief Eunuch, were but ours the Sultan's court! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...EVENING CLOUDS by FRANCIS LEDWIDGE TO HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW; ON HIS BIRTHDAY, 27 FEB. 1867 by JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL MANNERLY MARGERY, MILK AND ALE by JOHN SKELTON THE LANDLADY'S DAUGHTER by JOHANN LUDWIG UHLAND FOR YOU O DEMOCRACY by WALT WHITMAN THE MEDITATION OF THE OLD FISHERMAN by WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS |