Frederick the Great
PRUSSIA .
Keen, silky ruse unsheathed your heart of stone,
You hid sharp tiger-claws among your lords.
When soft words failed, with sudden shock of swords,
To gain the prize your arm staked life and throne.
Intolerant Austria, rent by grave discords,
Despised your rising star, and left alone
Her fair Silesian rose, to find it prone,
Ravished and crushed by your invading hordes.
But when in dreams your memory steals to me,
I watch you amid your clamorous dogs repair
To some old, sombre room at Sans Souci,
To play upon the flute a favorite air,
And, by your side, I see, in devilish glee,
The mocking smile and cold sneer of Voltaire!
Keen, silky ruse unsheathed your heart of stone,
You hid sharp tiger-claws among your lords.
When soft words failed, with sudden shock of swords,
To gain the prize your arm staked life and throne.
Intolerant Austria, rent by grave discords,
Despised your rising star, and left alone
Her fair Silesian rose, to find it prone,
Ravished and crushed by your invading hordes.
But when in dreams your memory steals to me,
I watch you amid your clamorous dogs repair
To some old, sombre room at Sans Souci,
To play upon the flute a favorite air,
And, by your side, I see, in devilish glee,
The mocking smile and cold sneer of Voltaire!
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