Sections: General Index   Present Section: Index   Present Work: Index   Previous: 10. “Sister Louise de la Misericorde”   Next: 12. A Vision of Philosophy

 

(p. 39)

 

11.

 

WAR

 

            SEE! through the lurid clouds Bellona drives

            Her flaming chariot! and all heaven shakes

            Beneath the crashing wheels, the empyreal sky

            Throughout its burning vaults reverberates

            The horrid sound, and from the gates of hell

            Avernus echoes back the clang of war!

 

            Swift from the rein the snorting horses spring,

            Like living whirlwinds through the fiery mists

            Of gathering tempest, their uplifted hoofs

            Impatient to the combat; smoke and flame

            Hiss from their nostrils, their dishevelled manes

            Like sudden meteors blast the sultry air!

 

            Hark! from the plain below, the clash of arms,

            The cries of rage, the wailing of the slain,

            With dire confusion wake the god of day;

            And Echo, startled from her silent couch,

            Leaps into life, and shrieks for blood and war!

 

(p. 40)

            From hill to hill, from sounding wood to vale,

            The dreadful clamour like a torrent rolls

            Its angry tide of sound. Earth, heaven and hell

            Rock with the horrid roar, and thunder back

            From tremulous marge to marge, from depth to height,

            The jarring discord! . . .

 

Sections: General Index   Present Section: Index   Present Work: Index   Previous: 10. “Sister Louise de la Misericorde”   Next: 12. A Vision of Philosophy