Page:The Works of Lord Byron (ed. Coleridge, Prothero) - Volume 2.djvu/84

50 Three gaudy standards flout the pale blue skies;

The shouts are France, Spain, Albion, Victory!

The Foe, the Victim, and the fond Ally

That fights for all, but ever fights in vain,

Are met—as if at home they could not die—

To feed the crow on Talavera's plain,

And fertilise the field that each pretends to gain.

XLII.

There shall they rot—Ambition's honoured fools!

Yes, Honour decks the turf that wraps their clay!

Vain Sophistry! in these behold the tools,

The broken tools, that Tyrants cast away