Classic Poem

" And never more your ringing team
Made music in our happy dale;
Instead, an earthquake winged with steam
Roared through our sundered vale.

" And where yon river seaward runs,
The white-winged barges ceased to roam;
Instead, came great leviathans
Trampling the waves to foam.

" And there was rushing to and fro,
As if the nation suddenly
Made haste to meet some foreign foe
Impending on the sea.

" And all this horrid roar and rage —
The clash of steel and flash of ire
Was the giant march of the Conquering Age
Flapping his flags of fire!

" He strode the land from east to west: —
Then death in my despair was sweet,
And soon above my buried breast
Trampled the world's loud feet.

" The dreary dream is past and told;
But, Leon, swear to still be true,
Even though with charms a thousandfold
A queen should smile on you. "

This, Leon swore, — swore still to pay
The fealty he long had borne;
The years which followed best can say
If Leon was forsworn.