Classic and Contemporary Poetry
DANUBE AND THE EUXINE, by WILLIAM EDMONSTOUNE AYTOUN Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Danube, danube! Wherefore com'st thou Last Line: I am christian stream no more!' Alternate Author Name(s): Bon Gaultier (with Theodore Martin) Subject(s): Danube (river); Religion; Theology | ||||||||
'DANUBE, Danube! wherefore com'st thou Red and raging to my caves? Wherefore leap thy swollen waters Madly through the broken waves? Wherefore is thy tide so sullied With a hue unknown to me; Wherefore dost thou bring pollution To the old and sacred sea?' 'Ha! rejoice, old Father Euxine! I am brimming full and red; Glorious tokens do I bring thee From my distant channel-bed. I have been a Christian river Dull and slow this many a year, Rolling down my torpid waters Through a silence morne and drear; Have not felt the tread of armies Trampling on my reedy shore; Have not heard the trumpet calling, Or the cannon's echoing roar; Only listened to the laughter From the village and the town, And the church-bells, ever jangling, As the weary day went down. So I lay and sorely pondered On the days long since gone by, When my old primaeval forests Echoed to the war-man's cry; When the race of Thor and Odin Held their battles by my side, And the blood of man was mingling Warmly with my chilly tide. Father Euxine! thou rememb'rest How I brought thee tribute then -- Swollen corpses, gashed and gory, Heads and limbs of slaughtered men? Father Euxine! be thou joyful! I am running red once more -- Not with heathen blood, as early, But with gallant Christian gore! For the old times are returning, And the Cross is broken down, And I hear the tocsin sounding In the village and the town: And the glare of burning cities Soon shall light me on my way -- Ha! my heart is big and jocund With the draught I drank to-day. Ha! I feel my strength awakened, And my brethren shout to me; Each is leaping red and joyous To his own awaiting sea. Rhine and Elbe are plunging downward Through their wild anarchic land, Everywhere are Christians falling By their brother Christians' hand! Yea, the old times are returning, And the olden gods are here! Take my tribute, Father Euxine, To thy waters dark and drear! Therefore come I with my torrents, Shaking castle, crag, and town; Therefore, with my arms uplifted, Sweep I herd and herdsman down; Therefore leap I to thy bosom With a loud triumphal roar -- Greet me, greet me, Father Euxine -- I am Christian stream no more!' | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...MYSTIC BOUNCE by TERRANCE HAYES MATHEMATICS CONSIDERED AS A VICE by ANTHONY HECHT UNHOLY SONNET 11 by MARK JARMAN SHINE, PERISHING REPUBLIC by ROBINSON JEFFERS THE COMING OF THE PLAGUE by WELDON KEES A LITHUANIAN ELEGY by ROBERT KELLY BOTHWELL: PART 4 by WILLIAM EDMONSTOUNE AYTOUN |
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