XVIII. It might be that amidst the countless throng, There swell'd some heart with Pity's weight oppress'd, For the wide stream of human love is strong; And woman, on whose fond and faithful breast Childhood is rear'd, and at whose knee the sigh Of its first prayer is breathed, she, too, was nigh. -But life is dear, and the free footstep bless'd, And home a sunny place, where each may fill Some eye with glistening smiles,—and therefore all were still XIX. All still-youth, courage, strength !—a winter laid, A chain of palsy, cast on might and mind! Still, as at noon a southern forest's shade, They stood, those breathless masses of mankind; Still, as a frozen torrent !—but the wave Soon leaps to foaming freedom-they, the brave, Endured-they saw the martyr's place assign'd In the red flames-whence is the withering spell That numbs each human pulse?-they saw, and thought it well. XX. And I, too, thought it well! That very morn I watch'd the fearful rites; and if there sprung XXI. But I was waken'd as the dreamers waken Whom the shrill trumpet and the shriek of dread Rouse up at midnight, when their walls are taken, And they must battle till their blood is shed On their own threshold-floor. A path for light Through my torn breast was shatter'd by the might Of the swift thunder-stroke-and Freedom's tread Came in through ruins, late, yet not in vain, Making the blighted place all green with life again. XXII. Still darkly, slowly, as a sullen mass Of cloud, o'ersweeping, without wind, the sky, Till in his place came one-oh! could it be? -My friend, my heart's first friend !—and did I gaze on thee? XXIII. On thee! with whom in boyhood I had play'd, And to whose eye my youthful soul had laid And by whose side 'midst warriors I had stood, And in whose helm was brought-oh! earn'd with blood! The fresh wave to my lips, when tropic beams Smote on my fever'd brow!-Ay, years had pass'd, Severing our paths, brave friend!-and thus we met at last! XXIV. I see it still the lofty mien thou borest- —And thou—hadst thou but died with thy true brethren there! XXV. I call the fond wish back-for thou hast perish'd 4 The might of Truth; and be thy memory cherish'd -Ay, with their ashes hath the wind been sown, Filling man's heart and home with records of the dead. XXVI. Thou Searcher of the Soul! in whose dread sight Thou know'st-whose eye through shade and depth can see, That this man's crime was but to worship thee, The call'd of yore; wont by the Saviour's side, XXVII. For the strong spirit will at times awake, |