The famished eagle screams, and passes by.
Dear lost companions of my tuneful art,
Dear as the light that visits these sad eyes,
Dear as the ruddy drops that warm my heart,
Ye died amidst your dying country’s cries—
No more I weep. They do not sleep.
On yonder cliffs, a grisly band,
I see them sit, they linger yet,
Avengers of their native land:
With me in dreadful harmony they join,
And weave with bloody hands the tissues of thy line.
II.
“Weave the warp, and
weave the woof,
The winding sheet of Edward’s race.
Give ample room, and verge
enough
The characters of hell to trace.
Mark the year, and mark the night,
When Severn shall re-echo with affright
The shrieks of death, thro’ Berkeley’s
roof that ring,
Shrieks of an agonizing king!
She-wolf of France, with unrelenting
fangs,
That tear’st the bowels of thy mangled
mate,
From thee be born, who o’er
thy country hangs
The scourge of Heaven. What Terrors
round him wait!
Amazement in his van, with Flight combined,
And Sorrow’s faded form, and solitude
behind.
“Mighty victor, mighty
lord!
Low on his funeral couch he lies!
No pitying heart, no eye,
afford
A tear to grace his obsequies.
Is the sable warrior fled?
Thy son is gone. He rests among the
dead.
The swarm, that in thy noon-tide beam
were born,
Gone to salute the rising morn.
Fair laughs the morn, and soft the zephyr
blows.
While proudly riding o’er
the azure realm
In gallant trim the gilded vessel goes;
Youth on the prow, and Pleasure
at the helm;
Regardless of the sweeping whirlwind’s
sway,
That, hushed in grim repose, expects his
evening prey.
“Fill high the sparkling
bowl,
The rich repast prepare,
Reft of a crown, he yet may
share the feast;
Close by the regal chair
Fell Thirst and Famine scowl
A baleful smile upon their
baffled guest.
Heard ye the din of battle bray,
Lance to lance, and horse
to horse?
Long years of havoc, urged
their destined course,
And through the kindred squadrons mow
their way.
Ye towers of Julius, London’s
lasting shame,
With many a foul and midnight murder fed,
Revere his consort’s
faith, his father’s fame,
And spare the meek usurper’s holy
head.
Above, below, the rose of snow,
Twined with her blushing foe,
we spread:
The bristled Boar in infant-gore
Wallows beneath the thorny
shade.
Now, brothers, bending o’er the
accursed loom,
Stamp we our vengeance deep, and ratify
his doom.