THAT heresies should strike (if truth be scanned Presumptuously) their roots both wide and deep, Is natural as dreams to feverish sleep. Lo! Discord at the altar dares to stand Uplifting toward high Heaven her fiery brand, A cherished Priestess of the new-baptized! But chastisement shall follow peace despised. The Pictish cloud darkens the enervate land By Rome abandoned; vain are suppliant cries, And prayers that would undo her forced farewell; For she returns not. -- Awed by her own knell, She casts the Britons upon strange Allies Soon to become more dreaded enemies Than heartless misery called them to repel. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...MUSIC by STEPHEN VINCENT BENET JUNIUS BRUTUS BOOTH by EDGAR LEE MASTERS BY THE ALMA RIVER by DINAH MARIA MULOCK CRAIK LINES FROM A PLUTOCRATIC POETASTER TO A DITCH-DIGGER by FRANKLIN PIERCE ADAMS TO MRS. PRIESTLEY, WITH SOME DRAWINGS OF BIRDS AND INSECTS by ANNA LETITIA BARBAULD MAXIMS FOR THE OLD HOUSE: THE PLASTER ON THE CHIMNEY by ANNA HEMPSTEAD BRANCH A SONG OF PITCAIRN'S ISLAND by WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT A DIALOGUE ON NATUREM POWER AND USE OF HUMAN LEARNING, IN RELIGION by JOHN BYROM |