What if our numbers barely could defy The arithmetic of babes, must foreign hordes, Slaves, vile as ever were befooled by words, Striking through English breasts the anarchy Of Terror, bear us to the ground, and tie Our hands behind our backs with felon cords? Yields everything to discipline of swords? Is man as good as man, none low, none high?-- Nor discipline nor valour can withstand The shock, nor quell the inevitable rout, When in some great extremity breaks out A people, on their own beloved Land Risen, like one man, to combat in the sight Of a just God for liberty and right. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...RAIN ON A GRAVE by THOMAS HARDY WAITING FOR THE GRAPES by WILLIAM MAGINN ODE TO SILENCE by EDNA ST. VINCENT MILLAY TALL NETTLES by PHILIP EDWARD THOMAS I WOULD BE THE SUN by JOHANNA AMBROSIUS BEATRICE by CHARLES BAUDELAIRE THE GREENWOOD by WILLIAM LISLE BOWLES |