Page:Poems and ballads (IA balladspoems00swinrich).pdf/208



many sons, how many generations, For how long years hast thou bewept, and known Nor end of torment nor surcease of moan, Rachel or Rizpah, wofullest of nations, Crowned with the crowning sign of desolations, And couldst not even scare off with hand or groan Those carrion birds devouring bone by bone The children of thy thousand tribulations? Thou wast our warrior once; thy sons long dead Against a foe less foul than this made head, Poland, in years that sound and shine afar; Ere the east beheld in thy bright sword‑blade's stead The rotten corpse‑light of the Russian star That lights towards hell his bondslaves and their Czar.