ONCE more the mighty angel, who unfolds
Time’s ample page to our astonish’d view,
Has turn’d unseen, with quick and silent hand,
Another leaf of that eventful book
Where wrapp’d in shades of dim obscurity,
Remains the fate of empires and of kings.
O thou dark volume of futurity,
Whose tenfold seal no mortal hand can break,
What scenes of wonder yet to be reveal’d
Do thy unopen’d pages still contain.
E’er since my heart could feel for human kind,
I’ve heard of nought but wars and desolation,
Of cities given to the devouring flames;
Of once fair countries ravag’d and laid waste;
Their fertile vallies turn’d to fields of death;
Where, sad to tell, brothers, and sons, and sires,
Together fell, and shar’d one common grave:
Those who surviv’d, when the dread work was done,
Compell’d to leave their much-lov’d native fields,
Their wives and children unprotected all-
To fight and perish in a distant land.
Through many a circling year I’ve mark’d the stream
Of conquest roll its crimson tide along,
Like a destructive deluge spreading wide,
O’erwhelming nations in its dreadful course;
And oft, dear England, I have fear’d for thee-
Thou lovely gem set in surrounding rocks,
And plac’d upon the bosom of the deep;
Those rugged rocks, and ocean’s troubled waves,
Are thy defence, thy native bulwarks they;
To thee, and to the guardian arm of heav’n,
Thou ow’st thy safety, ‘midst the mighty shock
That half unpeoples Europe’s fairest realms:
Though long, on almost ev’ry foreign soil,
Thy bravest sons have lost their lives for thee;
And many a beauteous maid and widow mourn.
For the dear objects of their tend’rest love,
And many a mother for her gallant sons:
Yet the worst ills a country can endure,
Thou hast not felt-no hostile standards wave,
Insulting, o’er thy green luxuriant vales-
The first of blessings-freedom, yet is thine.
(Isabella Lickbarrow)
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Based on Topics: Love Poems, Sadness Poems, Death & Dying Poems, Kings & Queens Poems, Fate & Destiny Poems, Sons Poems, Mothers Poems, Work & Career Poems, Angels Poems, Cities Poems, Brothers PoemsBased on Keywords: ravag, much-lov, surviv, unopen, unpeoples