What! ye hold yourselves as freemen?
Tyrants love just such as ye!
Go! abate your lofty manner!
Write upon the State’s old banner,
“_A furore Normanorum,
Libera nos, O Domine!_”
Sink before the federal altar,
Each one low, on bended knee,
Pray, with lips that sob and falter,
This prayer from the coward’s psalter,–
“_A furore Normanorum,
Libera nos, O Domine!_”
But ye hold that quick repentance
In the Northern mind will be;
This repentance comes no sooner
Than the robbers did, at Luna!
“_A furore Normanorum,
Libera nos, O Domine!_”
He repented _him_:–the Bishop
Gave him absolution free;
Poured upon him sacred chrism
In the pomp of his baptism.
_”A furore Normanorum,
Libera nos, O Domine!”_
He repented;–then he sickened!
Was he pining for the sea?
_In extremis_ was he shriven,
The viaticum was given,
_”A furore Normanorum,
Libera nos, O Domine!”_
Then the old cathedral’s choir
Took the plaintive minor key;
With the Host upraised before him,
Down the marble aisles they bore him;
_”A furore Normanorum,
Libera nos, O Domine!”_
While the bishop and the abbot–
All the monks of high degree,
Chanting praise to the Madonna,
Came to do him Christian honor!
_”A furore Normanorum,
Libera nos, O Domine!”_
Now the _miserere’s_ cadence,
Takes the voices of the sea;
As the music-billows quiver,
See the dead freebooter shiver!
_”A furore Normanorum,
Libera nos, O Domine!”_
Is it that these intonations
Thrill him thus from head to knee?
Lo, his cerements burst asunder!
‘Tis a sight of fear and wonder!
_”A furore Normanorum,
Libera nos, O Domine!”_
Fierce, he stands before the bishop,
Dark as shape of Destinie.
Hark! a shriek ascends, appalling,–
Down the prelate goes–dead–falling!
_”A furore Normanorum,
Libera nos, O Domine!”_
Hastings lives! He was but feigning!
What! Repentant? Never he!
Down he smites the priests and friars,
And the city lights with fires!
_”A furore Normanorum,
Libera nos, O Domine!”_
Ah! the children and the maidens,
‘Tis in vain they strive to flee!
Where the white-haired priests lie bleeding,
Is no place for woman’s pleading.
_”A furore Normanorum,
Libera nos, O Domine!”_
Louder swells the frightful tumult–
Pallid Death holds revelrie!
Dies the organ’s mighty clamor,
By the horseman’s iron hammer!
_”A furore Normanorum,
Libera nos, O Domine!”_
So they thought that he’d repented!
Had they nailed him to the tree,
He had not deserved their pity,
And they had not–lost their city.
_”A furore Normanorum,
Libera nos, O Domine!”_
For the moral in this story,
Which is plain as truth can be:
If we trust the North’s relenting,
We shall shriek-too late repenting–
_”A furore Normanorum,
Libera nos, O Domine!”_
(James Barron Hope)
More Poetry from James Barron Hope:
James Barron Hope Poems based on Topics: Nature, Truth, Children, Honor, Cities, Sense & Perception, Fear, Tyranny & Despotism, Curiosity, Joy & Excitement, Manner- A Story Of The Caracas Valley (James Barron Hope Poems)
- The Lee Memorial Ode (James Barron Hope Poems)
- The Jamestown Anniversary Ode (James Barron Hope Poems)
- A Friend Of Mine (James Barron Hope Poems)
- Arms And The Man - Heroes And Statesmen (James Barron Hope Poems)
- Under One Blanket (James Barron Hope Poems)
Readers Who Like This Poem Also Like:
Based on Topics: Nature Poems, Joy & Excitement Poems, Sense & Perception Poems, Fear Poems, Truth Poems, Children Poems, Cities Poems, Curiosity Poems, Honor Poems, Tyranny & Despotism Poems, Manner PoemsBased on Keywords: hastings, destinie, intonations, viaticum, extremis, libera, freebooter, furore, revelrie
- Of The Nature Of Things: Book IV - Part 04 - Some Vital Functions (Lucretius Poems)
- Hermann And Dorothea - VII. Erato (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Poems)
- Book IV - Part 04 - Some Vital Functions (Lucretius Poems)
- An Epistle To George William Curtis (James Russell Lowell Poems)
- A Story Of Doom: Book V. (Jean Ingelow Poems)