Читать книгу The Complete Poetical Works of James Russell Lowell - James Russell Lowell - Страница 212

Not long can he be ruler who allows

His time to run before him; thou wast naught

Soon as the strip of gold about thy brows

Was no more emblem of the People's thought:

Vain were thy bayonets against the foe

Thou hadst to cope with; thou didst wage

War not with Frenchmen merely;—no,

Thy strife was with the Spirit of the Age,

The invisible Spirit whose first breath divine 89

Scattered thy frail endeavor,

And, like poor last year's leaves, whirled thee and thine

Into the Dark forever!