I HEARD the wails of grief and shame When Priam's wall were wrapt in flame; I stood within the Forum place, When Vandal axe and Gothic mace Battered the pride from Cæsar's face; When Plague's foul legions filled the Seine With corpses, and bestank the plain Of France, from Paris to Lorraine; When Flanders fell before the siege That made the Spanish fiend her liege; When Werewolves wrought a guillotine For Louis and his fragile queen; 'T was I who staged anew the scene, 'T was I who wiped away the scars And set the heaven with fresh stars. |