great sovereign of the earth and sea, Whose sceptre shall forever be The reign supreme of Liberty, Draw thou the veil that dims our sight, light thou our eyes, That we may see! Beyond the waters, east and west, Six giant legions ominous rest, Equipped and armed from sole to crest; The burdened nations groan and reel and listen for The dread behest. The Ottoman by the Ægean tide Is bonded; there the navies ride And train their armaments to bide The menace from the eagle’s north, or who will dare The kings allied. The cringing Sultan can but wait The will of other crowns; his fate Is graven in the hearts that hate And tremble at his wasting power—the curse of men— So weak, so great. His doom is written in the skies; His Orient Empire palsied lies, And still and still he crucifies The last bare hope that yet might save, and mocks his knell, And still defies. I hear the Empires muttering now,— The northern Cæsar keeps his vow, And waits and wills both where and how His sheathless sword shall smite at last; he waits and knits His iron brow. I see the Austrians mustering where The Adriatic’s waters glare, Or by the Danube; and they swear Eternal vigilance against the Cossack hordes So sleepless there. The crafty Chancellor, outworn, Who guards the German state, in scorn Watches the French frontier,—his thorn; Looks north to the Crimean gates, and eastward to The Golden Horn. Europa waits the signal, swells Imperial armies, still compels, From Britain to the Dardanelles, Fresh millions to her warrior camps, and millions more, For ships and shells. Till on her mighty, martial field The greatest products she can yield Are armëd men and sword and shield: Whole nations bent and strung for what? O Lord, thy thought Is still concealed! Great Sovereign of the earth and sea, Whose sceptre shall forever be The reign supreme of Liberty, Draw thou the veil that dims our sight, light thou our eyes, That we may see! CHARMIAN, 16 Feb., 1888
Europa
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