Black Demons hovering o’er his mitred head,
To Caesar’s Successor the Pontiff spake;
“Ere I absolve thee, stoop! that on thy neck
“Leveled with earth this foot of mine may tread.”
Then he, who to the altar had been led,
He, whose strong arm the Orient could not check,
He, who had held the Soldan at his beck,
Stooped, of all glory disinherited,
And even the common dignity of man!
Amazement strikes the crowd: while many turn
Their eyes away in sorrow, others burn
With scorn, invoking a vindictive ban
From outraged Nature; but the sense of most
In abject sympathy with power is lost.
Read all of William Wordsworth's poems · About William Wordsworth
More by William Wordsworth
- Ecclesiastical Sonnets - Part I. From The Introduction Of Christianity Into Britain, To The Consummation Of The Papal Dominion - Introduction
- Ecclesiastical Sonnets - Part II. - I - How Soon, Alas!
- Ecclesiastical Sonnets - Part II. - II - From False Assumption Rose
- Ecclesiastical Sonnets - Part II. - III - Cistertian Monastery
- Ecclesiastical Sonnets - Part II. - IV - Deplorable His Lot Who Tills The Ground
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