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SONNET: 18. ON THE LATE MASSACRE IN PIEDMONT, by         Recitation     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Avenge, o lord, thy slaughtered saints, whose bones
Last Line: Early may fly the babylonian woe.
Variant Title(s): Sonnet: 15
Subject(s): Heroism; Italy; Martyrs; War; Heroes; Heroines; Italians


Avenge, O Lord, thy slaughtered saints, whose bones
Lie scattered on the Alpine mountains cold;
Even them who kept thy truth so pure of old
When all our fathers worshipped stocks and stones,
Forget not: in thy book record their groans
Who were thy sheep and in their ancient fold
Slain by the bloody Piedmontese, that rolled
Mother with infant down the rocks. Their moans
The vales redoubled to the hills, and they
To heaven. Their martyred blood and ashes sow
O'er all the Italian fields where still doth sway
The triple tyrant; that from these may grow
A hundredfold, who, having learnt thy way,
Early may fly the Babylonian woe.








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