We can endure that He should waste our lands,
Despoil our temples, and by sword and flame
Return us to the dust from which we came;
Such food a Tyrant’s appetite demands:
And we can brook the thought that by his hands
Spain may be overpowered, and he possess,
For his delight, a solemn wilderness
Where all the brave lie dead. But, when of bands
Which he will break for us he dares to speak,
Of benefits, and of a future day
When our enlightened minds shall bless his sway;
‘Then’, the strained heart of fortitude proves weak;
Our groans, our blushes, our pale cheeks declare
That he has power to inflict what we lack strength to bear.
Read all of William Wordsworth's poems · About William Wordsworth
More by William Wordsworth
- Influence Of Natural Objects
- Inscription For A Monument In Crosthwaite Church, In The Vale Of Keswick
- Inscriptions - In A Garden Of Sir George Beaumont, Bart.
- Inscriptions - Supposed To Be Found In And Near A Hermit's Cell, 1818 - I
- Inscriptions - Supposed To Be Found In And Near A Hermit's Cell, 1818 - II - Inscribed Upon A Rock
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