COMRADES mine of Muse and Land, When the wanton war-drum sounded And the world fell back astounded At a fate so lightly planned, Heralds of the Right in song, Were you silent at the wrong? Comrades mine of Land and Muse, When the mailed and haughty giant Crushed the weak but uncompliant, Did you falter which to choose? Did the cult of Art for Art Halt the tempest of your heart? No, you left your joy untold, Left Love's pondered rhyme impending, Left unpraised the summer's blending Into roadside blue and gold. What were Nature, Love and Song In the presence of such wrong? At each Teuton perfidy Trembled your swift lines with scorning. Lowell's vision, Webster's warning Made you seers of Liberty: Others doubted: you divined The awful cross of humankind. When the dragon, War, is dead, Though the haunting slain be counted Like the stars, and grief hath mounted Higher than the Jungfrau's head, History shall search your song To find the measure of the wrong. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A SWEET LULLABY by NICHOLAS BRETON CLEOMENS, OR THE SPARTAN HERO: SONG by JOHN DRYDEN PHILLIS'S AGE by MATTHEW PRIOR HENDECASYLLABICS by ALFRED TENNYSON THE LITTLE ONES GREATNESS by JOSEPH BEAUMONT THE CANAL by EDMUND CHARLES BLUNDEN BRADDAN VICARAGE by THOMAS EDWARD BROWN |