MEN deemed thee fallen, did they? fallen like Rome, Coiled into self to foil a Vandal throng: Not wholly shorn of strength, but vainly strong; Weaned from thy fame by a too happy home, Scanning the ridges of thy teeming loam, Counting the flocks, humming thy harvest song, Callous, because thyself secure, 'gainst wrong, Behind the impassable fences of the foam! The dupes! Thou dost but stand erect, and lo! The nations cluster round; and while the horde Of wolfish backs slouch homeward to their snow, Thou, 'mid thy sheaves in peaceful seasons stored, Towerest supreme, victor without a blow, Smilingly leaning on thy undrawn sword! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...BATTLEDORE AND SHUTTLECOCK by AMY LOWELL IF HE SHOULD COME by EDWIN MARKHAM NOTHING WILL CURE THE SICK LION BUT TO EAT AN APE' by MARIANNE MOORE THE TOMB AT AKR CAAR by EZRA POUND DEXTER GORDON: COPENHAGEN/AVERY FISHER HALL by KAREN SWENSON |