Page:The ascent of man by Blind, Mathilde.djvu/53


 * And the violent feud of clashing creeds

Shatters empires and breaks realms asunder;
 * Cities tremble, sceptres shake like reeds

At the swift bolts of the Papal thunder;
 * Yea, the bravest quail,
 * Cast from out the pale
 * Of all Christendom
 * By the dread anathemas of Rome.


 * And like one misled by marish gleams

When he hears the shrill cock's note of warning,
 * Europe, starting from its trance of dreams,

Sees the first streak of the clear-eyed morning
 * As it broadening stands
 * Over ravaged lands
 * Where mad nations are
 * Locked in grip of fratricidal war.


 * Castles burn upon the vine-clad knolls,

Huts glow smouldering in the trampled meadows;