Page:Landon in Literary Gazette 1823.pdf/135



There came a shadow o'er the land, and men Were hunted by their fellow men like beasts, And the sweet feelings of humanity Were utterly forgotten; the white head, Darkened with blood and dust, was often laid Upon the murdered infant, for the sword Of pride and cruelty was sent to slay Those who in age would not forego the faith They had grown up in. I was one of these: How could I close the Bible I had read Beside my dying mother, which had given To me and mine such comfort? But the hand Of the oppressor smote us. There were shrieks, And naked swords, and faces dark as guilt, A rush of feet, a bursting forth of flame,