Public-domain ebook
The Five Nations, Volume II
Language: en295 downloads on Project Gutenberg
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In: Poetry·British Literature·Nobel Prizes in Literature
Public-domain ebook sourced from Project Gutenberg #60261.
The opening · free to read
’He hath veiled the crown and hid the sceptre,’ warn the Trumpets, ‘He hath changed the fashion of the lies that cloak his will. ‘Hard die the Kings--ah hard--dooms hard!’ declare the Trumpets, Trumpets at the gang-plank where the brawling troop-decks fill!
Ancient and Unteachable, abide--abide the trumpets! Once again the Trumpets, for the shuddering ground-swell brings Clamour over ocean of the harsh pursuing Trumpets-- Trumpets of the Vanguard that have sworn no truce with Kings!
All we have of freedom, all we use or know-- This our fathers bought for us long and long ago.
Ancient Right unnoticed as the breath we draw-- Leave to live by no man’s leave, underneath the Law.
Lance and torch and tumult, steel and grey-goose wing Wrenched it, inch and ell and all, slowly from the King.
Till our fathers ’stablished, after bloody years, How our King is one with us, first among his peers.
So they bought us freedom--not at little cost-- Wherefore must we watch the King, lest our gain be lost.
Over all things certain, this is sure indeed, Suffer not the old King: for we know the breed.
Give no ear to bondsmen bidding us endure, Whining ‘He is weak and far’; crying ‘Time shall cure.’
(Time himself is witness, till the battle joins, Deeper strikes the rottenness in the people’s loins.)
Give no heed to bondsmen masking war with peace. Suffer not the old King here or overseas.
They that beg us barter--wait his yielding mood-- Pledge the years we hold in trust--pawn our brother’s blood--
Howso’ great their clamour, whatso’er their claim, Suffer not the old King under any name!
Here is naught unproven--here is naught to learn. It is written what shall fall if the King return.
He shall mark our goings, question whence we came, Set his guards about us, as in Freedom’s name.
He shall take a tribute, toll of all our ware; He shall change our gold for arms--arms we may not bear.
He shall break his Judges if they cross his word; He shall rule above the Law calling on the Lord.
He shall peep and mutter; and the night shall bring Watchers ’neath our window, lest we mock the King--
Hate and all division; hosts of hurrying spies; Money poured in secret, carrion breeding flies.
Strangers of his council, hirelings of his pay, These shall deal our Justice: sell--deny--delay.
We shall drink dishonour, we shall eat abuse For the Land we look to--for the Tongue we use.
We shall take our station, dirt beneath his feet, While his hired captains jeer us in the street.
Cruel in the shadow, crafty in the sun, Far beyond his borders shall his teachings run.
Sloven, sullen, savage, secret, uncontrolled-- Laying on a new land evil of the old;
Long-forgotten bondage, dwarfing heart and brain-- All our fathers died to loose he shall bind again.
Here is naught at venture, random nor untrue-- Swings the wheel full-circle, brims the cup anew.
Here is naught unproven, here is nothing hid: Step for step and word for word--so the old Kings did!
Step by step and word by word: who is ruled may read. Suffer not the old Kings--for we know the breed--
All the right they promise--all the wrong they bring. Stewards of the Judgment, suffer not this King!
Ramparts of slaughter and peril-- Blazing, amazing--aglow ’Twixt the sky-line’s belting beryl And the wine-dark flats below.
Royal the pageant closes, Lit by the last of the sun-- Opal and ash-of-roses, Cinnamon, umber, and dun.
The twilight swallows the thicket, The starlight reveals the ridge; The whistle shrills to the picket-- We are changing guard on the bridge.
(Few, forgotten and lonely, Where the empty metals shine-- No, not combatants--only Details guarding the line.)
We slip through the broken panel Of fence by the ganger’s shed; We drop to the waterless channel And the lean track overhead;
We stumble on refuse of rations, The beef and the biscuit-tins; We take our appointed stations, And the endless night begins.
We hear the Hottentot herders As the sheep click past to the fold-- And the click of the restless girders As the steel contracts in the cold--
Voices of jackals calling And, loud in the hush between, A morsel of dry earth falling From the flanks of the scarred ravine.
And the solemn firmament marches, And the hosts of heaven rise Framed through the iron arches-- Banded and barred by the ties,
Till we feel the far track humming, And we see her headlight plain, And we gather and wait her coming-- The wonderful north-bound train.
(Few, forgotten and lonely, Where the white car-windows shine-- No, not combatants--only Details guarding the line.)
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