SLEEP NOT DEATH.
Grato m' sit sonno * * Mentre che'l danno e la vergogna dun.
IN immemorial aisles, whose mellow gloom Was crimsoned with the flush of setting day, Where angels prayed above a trophied tomb, Shadowed or sealed by death a woman lay; The smile, the scorn of regal majesty, Seemed frozen on her lips, or fixed in stone, A chaplet of the stars that cannot die Shone on the brow where Evil% light was none; Yet death it was not, or it did not seem, Methought, she slumbered in a heavy trance, With fitful starts, the passion of a dream, And mourners stood around, and wept for France.
Theu Freedom bowed her stately form and said : "0, Mother, -mine no more, 1 seek a home. " Who are my friends ? the exile and the dead. " Where are my banners ? Do they float at Rome ? " One short bright morning of my life I stood, " Armed at thy side, crying to Earth be free ! ' " Through crashing kingdoms, through a sea of blood, " Unconquerable, I looked and clung to thee; "I shone like Hesper over death's array, "And death was beautiful. The steadfast sky " Sees baser hopes and meaner men to-day, "These dare not follow where I point and die ; "They tremble if I speak. I must begone." Then Faith said, sadly, "He who came to save " Joined Faith with Freedom. Shall I rest alone, "A marble mourner weeping on a grave ? " France knew me once. Her white-cross warriors fought, "Bleeding and faint, a passage to my shrine; "And, as they fell, the peace that is not bought " Came to them with death's kiss ; the cause was mine : " By all the woman's weakness I was strong. " Now, courtiers give the word, and hirelings pray,
" The soldier's clatter drowns the sacred song;
"I fly like Mary bearing Christ away."
A murmur of unutterable woe, "Let us depart," was breathed upon the air, Cross shadows flickered-ghost-like to and fro, The sculptured angels seemed to cease from prayer;
But Honour, grey with years, knelt in the dust,
" I watched thy cradle first, I quit thee last. " The secret massacre, the broken trust, " Can these, can Caesar's crown, degrade thy Past ?
" I live a memory in the hearts of men." And Hope, with eyes fresh kindled from the sun,
Said, " Lady,.thou shalt rise and reign again,
"Thou at immortal, and thy foe is—One."
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