Page:Joan of Arc - Southey (1796).djvu/73

 Falls flat and heavy on the accustomed ear; When Eunuchs sing, and Fools buffoon'ry make, And Dancers writhe their harlot limbs in vain: Then War and all its dread vicissitudes Pleasingly agitate their stagnant hearts, Its hopes, its fears, its victories, its defeats, Insipid Royalty's keen Condiment. Therefore, uninjur'd and unprofited (Victims at once and executioners) The congregated Husbandmen lay waste The Vineyard and the Harvest: as along The Bothnic Coast or southward of the Line Though hush'd the Winds, and cloudless the high Noon, Yet if, weary of ease, In sports unwieldy toss his island bulk, Ocean behind him billows, and, before, A storm of Waves breaks foamy on the strand. And hence for times and seasons bloody and dark Short Peace shall skin the wounds of causeless War, And War, his strained sinews knit anew, "Still