Poems (Hoffman)/Josephine
JOSEPHINE
(The last word spoken by Napoleon theGreat, before his death, in the prison at St.Helena, was the name of his first wife, theEmpress Josephine.)
Sternest soldiers are the guardsOf these rocky battlements,Bright the glistening of their swords,Keen their bristling bayonets.
Not the martialed power of FranceDares this fortress height to scale,Britain here her standard plants,Streams her pennons on the gale.
Past the scowling battlements,Past the British lion bold,Past the bristling bayonets,Stalks a monster grim and old.
None beside has dared to stormFortress rock, or prison bar,Death, with sure release, has comeTo the prisoned Emperor.
Burns the tropic sun o'erheadWith a fervent, lurid glare.Sounds the soldier's measured treadGuarding Britain's prize with care.
To a narrow cell consignedOn a lonely isle outcast;Where is now that mighty mindMidst the ruins of the past?
Does the fatal WaterlooTo Napoleon's mind recallMartialed armies into viewTrooping through his prison wall?
Amid Russia's frozen snow,Over Egypt's burning sands,Do his armored warriors goAt their leader's stern commands?
Does the eagle, that has wonVictory's zenith for his brow,Brighter than the noon-day sun,Thrill with pride his bosom now?
Or does she, the Empress Queen,Careless of his hopeless fate,Grace his life's brief closing sceneIn her royal robes of state?
Is her name upon his lipsWho his crown and crime could share,Watch his glory's dark eclipseAnd forsake his deep despair?
One face only does he seeFresh on recollection's scroll;One loved name, one memorySoothes at last his troubled soul.
She, the wronged, the fair, the good,Victim of ambition's greed,In her injured womanhoodCan she soothe him in his need?
Does her angel spirit, strongFrom some distant sphere descend,With forgiveness for her wrong,O'er his dying couch to bend?
Broken-hearted, beautiful,Last to close his weary eyesWith her gentle spirit fullOf the love that never dies.
He the strong and yet the weak,He the lofty and the low,Moves his ashen lips to speakEre the monster bids him go.
One alone Napoleon crownsFirst and last his Empress Queen,List! his mighty spirit soundsIts last echo, "Josephine."