Famine can smile
On him who brings it food, and pass, with guile
Of thankful falsehood, like a courtier gray, _4005
The house-dog of the throne; but many a mile
Comes Plague, a winged wolf, who loathes alway
The garbage and the scum that strangers make her prey.
On him who brings it food, and pass, with guile
Of thankful falsehood, like a courtier gray, _4005
The house-dog of the throne; but many a mile
Comes Plague, a winged wolf, who loathes alway
The garbage and the scum that strangers make her prey.
Shelley
O, that the earthquake's grave
Would gape, or Ocean lift its stifling wave! '
Vain cries--throughout the streets thousands pursued
Each by his fiery torture howl and rave, _3970
Or sit in frenzy's unimagined mood,
Upon fresh heaps of dead; a ghastly multitude.
21.
It was not hunger now, but thirst. Each well
Was choked with rotting corpses, and became
A cauldron of green mist made visible _3975
At sunrise. Thither still the myriads came,
Seeking to quench the agony of the flame,
Which raged like poison through their bursting veins;
Naked they were from torture, without shame,
Spotted with nameless scars and lurid blains, _3980
Childhood, and youth, and age, writhing in savage pains.
22.
It was not thirst, but madness! Many saw
Their own lean image everywhere, it went
A ghastlier self beside them, till the awe
Of that dread sight to self-destruction sent _3985
Those shrieking victims; some, ere life was spent,
Sought, with a horrid sympathy, to shed
Contagion on the sound; and others rent
Their matted hair, and cried aloud, 'We tread
On fire! the avenging Power his hell on earth has spread! ' _3990
23.
Sometimes the living by the dead were hid.
Near the great fountain in the public square,
Where corpses made a crumbling pyramid
Under the sun, was heard one stifled prayer
For life, in the hot silence of the air; _3995
And strange 'twas, amid that hideous heap to see
Some shrouded in their long and golden hair,
As if not dead, but slumbering quietly
Like forms which sculptors carve, then love to agony.
24.
Famine had spared the palace of the king:-- _4000
He rioted in festival the while,
He and his guards and priests; but Plague did fling
One shadow upon all.
Famine can smile
On him who brings it food, and pass, with guile
Of thankful falsehood, like a courtier gray, _4005
The house-dog of the throne; but many a mile
Comes Plague, a winged wolf, who loathes alway
The garbage and the scum that strangers make her prey.
25.
So, near the throne, amid the gorgeous feast,
Sheathed in resplendent arms, or loosely dight _4010
To luxury, ere the mockery yet had ceased
That lingered on his lips, the warrior's might
Was loosened, and a new and ghastlier night
In dreams of frenzy lapped his eyes; he fell
Headlong, or with stiff eyeballs sate upright _4015
Among the guests, or raving mad did tell
Strange truths; a dying seer of dark oppression's hell.
26.
The Princes and the Priests were pale with terror;
That monstrous faith wherewith they ruled mankind,
Fell, like a shaft loosed by the bowman's error, _4020
On their own hearts: they sought and they could find
No refuge--'twas the blind who led the blind!
So, through the desolate streets to the high fane,
The many-tongued and endless armies wind
In sad procession: each among the train _4025
To his own Idol lifts his supplications vain.
27.
'O God! ' they cried, 'we know our secret pride
Has scorned thee, and thy worship, and thy name;
Secure in human power we have defied
Thy fearful might; we bend in fear and shame _4030
Before thy presence; with the dust we claim
Kindred; be merciful, O King of Heaven!
Most justly have we suffered for thy fame
Made dim, but be at length our sins forgiven,
Ere to despair and death thy worshippers be driven. _4035
28.
'O King of Glory! thou alone hast power!
Who can resist thy will? who can restrain
Thy wrath, when on the guilty thou dost shower
The shafts of thy revenge, a blistering rain?
Greatest and best, be merciful again!
Would gape, or Ocean lift its stifling wave! '
Vain cries--throughout the streets thousands pursued
Each by his fiery torture howl and rave, _3970
Or sit in frenzy's unimagined mood,
Upon fresh heaps of dead; a ghastly multitude.
21.
It was not hunger now, but thirst. Each well
Was choked with rotting corpses, and became
A cauldron of green mist made visible _3975
At sunrise. Thither still the myriads came,
Seeking to quench the agony of the flame,
Which raged like poison through their bursting veins;
Naked they were from torture, without shame,
Spotted with nameless scars and lurid blains, _3980
Childhood, and youth, and age, writhing in savage pains.
22.
It was not thirst, but madness! Many saw
Their own lean image everywhere, it went
A ghastlier self beside them, till the awe
Of that dread sight to self-destruction sent _3985
Those shrieking victims; some, ere life was spent,
Sought, with a horrid sympathy, to shed
Contagion on the sound; and others rent
Their matted hair, and cried aloud, 'We tread
On fire! the avenging Power his hell on earth has spread! ' _3990
23.
Sometimes the living by the dead were hid.
Near the great fountain in the public square,
Where corpses made a crumbling pyramid
Under the sun, was heard one stifled prayer
For life, in the hot silence of the air; _3995
And strange 'twas, amid that hideous heap to see
Some shrouded in their long and golden hair,
As if not dead, but slumbering quietly
Like forms which sculptors carve, then love to agony.
24.
Famine had spared the palace of the king:-- _4000
He rioted in festival the while,
He and his guards and priests; but Plague did fling
One shadow upon all.
Famine can smile
On him who brings it food, and pass, with guile
Of thankful falsehood, like a courtier gray, _4005
The house-dog of the throne; but many a mile
Comes Plague, a winged wolf, who loathes alway
The garbage and the scum that strangers make her prey.
25.
So, near the throne, amid the gorgeous feast,
Sheathed in resplendent arms, or loosely dight _4010
To luxury, ere the mockery yet had ceased
That lingered on his lips, the warrior's might
Was loosened, and a new and ghastlier night
In dreams of frenzy lapped his eyes; he fell
Headlong, or with stiff eyeballs sate upright _4015
Among the guests, or raving mad did tell
Strange truths; a dying seer of dark oppression's hell.
26.
The Princes and the Priests were pale with terror;
That monstrous faith wherewith they ruled mankind,
Fell, like a shaft loosed by the bowman's error, _4020
On their own hearts: they sought and they could find
No refuge--'twas the blind who led the blind!
So, through the desolate streets to the high fane,
The many-tongued and endless armies wind
In sad procession: each among the train _4025
To his own Idol lifts his supplications vain.
27.
'O God! ' they cried, 'we know our secret pride
Has scorned thee, and thy worship, and thy name;
Secure in human power we have defied
Thy fearful might; we bend in fear and shame _4030
Before thy presence; with the dust we claim
Kindred; be merciful, O King of Heaven!
Most justly have we suffered for thy fame
Made dim, but be at length our sins forgiven,
Ere to despair and death thy worshippers be driven. _4035
28.
'O King of Glory! thou alone hast power!
Who can resist thy will? who can restrain
Thy wrath, when on the guilty thou dost shower
The shafts of thy revenge, a blistering rain?
Greatest and best, be merciful again!
