Poems Sigourney 1827/Greece
GREECE.
Clime of the unprotected brave!
Clime of the ancient, and the free!
Whose blood stain'd banners boldly wave
Mid storms that rock the Ægean sea,
With arm supine, and careless thought
Why gaze we on thy conflict dire?
To win that prize our fathers bought,
Why tamely see thy sons expire?
True,—we can glow at Homer's lay,
Enraptured hang o'er Pindar's lyre,
Start at thy pencil's deathless ray,
Thy breathing marble's force admire,
At awful Marathon can list
To catch the Persian's tone of shame,
At proud Thermopylæ assist
To bind the immortal wreath of fame;
But when from slaughter'd Scio speeds
The Moslem curse, the helpless cry,
The echo of unutter'd deeds,—
We tax our pity with a sigh!
Oh Ye! who saw the mighty yield
On Saratoga's laurell'd plain
Or bade on Monmouth's fervid field
Your wounded bosoms flow like rain,—
Rise!—though your wasted locks be gray,
Though chill'd with want your last retreat,
Lift high the wither'd hand, and say
How strong your kindred pulses beat,—
Rise!—tell your sons what generous pain,
What warm, indignant zeal revives,
When 'gainst oppression's wreathed chain
The crush'd, yet lofty spirit strives;—
And tell their cradled babes the tale,—
How oft to wrest the tyrant's rod
Do Liberty and Truth prevail
Clad in the panoply of God,—
Then, ere the holy tear shall cease
To dew their cheek like rose-bud fair,
Devoutly stamp the name of Greece
Deep, on their unpolluted prayer.