Arise! thou little Second Greece, Go forth and win your star, For lo, your horoscope is cast In gruesome clouds of war. Your sires have wrought in bloody sweat To lengthen out your days, Your sons have sought the western world And studied well her ways. Blend art with ancient valor now, Nor pause you for the night, For see! with bristling fleet appears The mighty Muscovite. The "Arctic Bear's" insatiate greed Has claimed you for his maw; He scented long your honeyed isles, And reaches forth his paw— And one would seize the Union Jack Down by the Bengal Bay— His breath would strike the flag of France, And send it home to stay. Let China how her hoary head If ever this shall be— For next he'd lick her dripping blood, And rule the southern sea. Let Tenno's spirit come again Like Fuji-yama's flame! "Land of the Rising Sun," arise! Add luster to your name! Thou Guardian of the Orient, Strike now in sacred scorn! Strike now the blow omnipotent For which your race was born! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...TO DAFFODILS by ROBERT HERRICK FALSE POETS AND TRUE; TO WORDSWORTH by THOMAS HOOD VULTURES by GHALIB IBN RIBAH AL-HAJJAM AND LOCUSTS BLOOM TOMORROW by MILDRED TELFORD BARNWELL A MIRACLE by AMELIA JOSEPHINE BURR |