Page:Poems (Bryant, 1821).djvu/23



And Rome, thy sterner, younger sister, she

Who awed the world with her imperial frown,

Drew the deep spirit of her race from thee,—

The rival of thy shame and thy renown.

Yet her degenerate children sold the crown

Of earth’s wide kingdoms to a line of slaves;

Guilt reign’d, and woe with guilt, and plagues came down,

Till the North broke its flood gates, and the waves

Whelm’d the degraded race, and welter’d o’er their graves.

Vainly that ray of brightness from above,

That shone around the Galilean lake,

The light of hope, the leading star of love,

Struggled, the darkness of that day to break;

Even its own faithless guardians strove to slake,

In fogs of earth, the pure immortal flame;

And priestly hands, for Jesus’ blessed sake,

Were red with blood, and charity became

Tn that stern war of forms, a mockery and a name.