Page:Dublin University Magazine Volume 3 1834.pdf/6

It came, the hour of wrath, the hour of woe,
Which to deep solitude and tears consigned
The peopled realm, the realm of joy and mirth;
A gloom was on the heavens, no mantling glow
Announced the morn—it seemed as nature pined,
And boding clouds obscured the sunbeams birth;
        While, startling the pale earth,
Bursting upon the mighty and the proud
        With visitation dread,
Their crests the Eternal in his anger bowed,
And raised barbarian nations o'er their head,
The inflexible, the fierce, who seek not gold,
But vengeance on their foes, relentless, uncontrolled.

Then was the sword let loose, the flaming sword
Of the strong Infidel's ignoble hand,
Amidst that host, the pride, the flower, the crown
Of thy fair knighthood; and the insatiate horde,
Not with thy life content, O ruined land!
Sad Lusitania! even thy bright renown
        Defaced and trampled down;
And scattered, rushing as a torrent flood,
Thy pomp of arms and banners;—till the sands
Became a lake of blood—thy noblest blood!—
The plain a mountain of thy slaughtered bands.
Strength on thy foes, resistless might was shed,
On thy devoted sons—amaze, and shame, and dread.

Are these the conquerors, these the lords of fight,
The warrior men, the invincible, the famed,
Who shook the earth with terror and dismay,
Whose spoils were empires?—They that in their might
The haughty strength of savage nations tamed,
And gave the spacious orient realms of day
        To desolation's sway,
Making the cities of imperial name
        Even as the desart place?
Where now the fearless heart, the soul of flame?
Thus has their glory closed its dazzling race
In one brief hour? Is this their valour's doom,
On distant shores to fall, and find not even a tomb?

Once were they, in their splendour and their pride,
As an imperial cedar on the brow
Of the great Lebanon It rose, arrayed
In its rich pomp of foliage, and of wide
Majestic branches, leaving far below
All children of the forest. To its shade
        The waters tribute paid,
Fostering its beauty. Birds found shelter there
Whose flight is of the loftiest through the sky,
And the wild mountain-creatures made their lair
Beneath; and nations by its canopy
Were shadowed o'er. Supreme it stood, and ne'er
Had earth beheld a tree so excellently fair.