Beware! The Israelite of old, who tore The lion in his path,--when, poor and blind, He saw the blessed light of heaven no more, Shorn of his noble strength and forced to grind In prison, and at last led forth to be A pander to Philistine revelry,-- Upon the pillars of the temple laid His desperate hands, and in its overthrow Destroyed himself, and with him those who made A cruel mockery of his sightless woe; The poor, blind Slave, the scoff and jest of all, Expired, and thousands perished in the fall! There is a poor, blind Samson in this land, Shorn of his strength and bound in bonds of steel, Who may, in some grim revel, raise his hand, And shake the pillars of this Commonweal, Till the vast Temple of our liberties. A shapeless mass of wreck and rubbish lies. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE SHAPE OF THE CORONER by WALLACE STEVENS A MAN TO A WOMAN by WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS IMITATION OF POPE: A COMPLIMENT TO THE LADIES by WILLIAM BLAKE TO THE VIRGINS, TO MAKE MUCH OF TIME by ROBERT HERRICK BIRTHDAY OF DANIEL WEBSTER by OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES THE EUMENIDES: CHORUS by AESCHYLUS CIRCUMSTANCE by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH |