Page:A Sheaf Gleaned in French Fields.djvu/120

A hammer has deliverance wrought;
David had pebbles from the shore.
Shout for the Cause—the flag advance!
Become once more the mighty France!
Paw as of old—with lowering horn!
Deliver, amid blood and smoke,
Your country from the despot's yoke,
Your memory from contempt and scorn.

What, know ye not, the Royalists themselves were great
In the fierce days of struggle past away? Men relate
What courage urged them on.
Valour in those times added a foot to men's height,
Witness, O Vendée, if I speak not aright!
Witness, thou land Breton!
To conquer a bastion, or to break through a wall,
Or spike a whole battery 'mid rain-showers of ball,
Often one man has gone!

If in this sink still, still men live,
If Frenchmen still, still act as slaves,
Trumpets and drums be broken,—give
Their fragments to the breezes. Graves
Of our sires where slumber deep
The old race, stir no more, but keep
Their shades in closest prison bound:
For never could they—would they own
Such dastard sons; nor hare nor hound
The lion breeds, but whelps alone.