Classic and Contemporary Poetry
VILLA FRANCA, by JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Wait a little; do we not wait? Last Line: But only god endures forever! Subject(s): Napoleon Iii (1808-1873) | ||||||||
WAIT a little: do we not wait? Louis Napoleon is not Fate, Francis Joseph is not Time; There's One hath swifter feet than Crime; Cannon-parliaments settle naught; Venice is Austria's, -- whose is Thought? Minie is good, but, spite of change, Gutenberg's gun has the longest range. Spin, spin, Clotho, spin! Lachesis, twist! and, Atropos, sever! In the shadow, year out, year in, The silent headsman waits forever. Wait, we say: our years are long; Men are weak, but Man is strong; Since the stars first curved their rings, We have looked on many things; Great wars come and great wars go, Wolf-tracks light on polar snow; We shall see him come and gone, This second-hand Napoleon. Spin, spin, Clotho, spin! Lachesis, twist! and, Atropos, sever! In the shadow, year out, year in, The silent headsman waits forever. We saw the elder Corsican, And Clotho muttered as she span, While crowned lackeys bore the train, Of the pinch beck Charlemagne: "Sister, stint not length of thread! Sister, stay the scissors dread! On Saint Helen's granite bleak, Hark, the vulture whets his beak!" Spin, spin, Clotho, spin! Lachesis, twist! and, Atropos, sever! In the shadow, year out, year in, The silent headsman waits forever. The Bonapartes, we know their bees That wade in honey red to the knees; Their patent reaper, its sheaves sleep sound In dreamless garners underground: We know false glory's spend thrift race Pawning nations for feathers and lace; It may be short, it may be long, "'T is reckoning-day!" sneers unpaid Wrong. Spin, spin, Clotho, spin! Lachesis, twist! and, Atropos, sever! In the shadow, year out, year in, The silent headsman waits forever. The Cock that wears the Eagle's skin Can promise what he ne'er could win; Slavery reaped for fine words sown, System for all, and rights for none, Despots atop, a wild clan below, Such is the Gaul from long ago; Wash the black from the Ethiop's face, Wash the past out of man or race! Spin, spin, Clotho, spin! Lachesis, twist! and, Atropos, sever! In the shadow, year out, year in, The silent headsman waits forever. 'Neath Gregory's throne a spider swings, And snares the people for the kings; "Luther is dead; old quarrels pass; The stake's black scars are healed with grass"; So dreamers prate; did man ere live Saw priest or woman yet forgive? But Luther's broom is left, and eyes Peep o'er their creeds to where it lies. Spin, spin, Clotho, spin! Lachesis, twist! and, Atropos, sever! In the shadow, year out, year in, The silent headsman waits forever. Smooth sails the ship of either realm, Kaiser and Jesuit at the helm; We look down the depths, and mark Silent workers in the dark Building slow the sharp-tusked reefs, Old instincts hardening to new beliefs; Patience a little; learn to wait; Hours are long on the clock of Fate. Spin, spin, Clotho, spin! Lachesis, twist! and, Atropos, sever! Darkness is strong, and so is Sin, But only God endures forever! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE LAST CAESAR, 1851-1870 by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH NAPOLEON III IN ITALY by ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING PRINCE HOHENSTIEL-SCHWANGAU; SAVIOUR OF SOCIETY by ROBERT BROWNING A COUP D'ETAT; AN INCIDENT IN THE NIGHT OF DECEMBER 4, 1851 by VICTOR MARIE HUGO MADAME TALLEYRAND AND THE TRAVELLER by HORACE SMITH DIRE: 10. A COUNSEL by ALGERNON CHARLES SWINBURNE A THOUGHT FOR MARCH 1860 by CHARLES TENNYSON TURNER EXECUTION OF FELICE ORSINI, MARCH 13TH, 1858 by HARRIET ELEANOR HAMILTON (BAILLE) KING AFTER THE BURIAL by JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL |
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