RIZPAH

How many sons, how many generations,

For how long years hast thou bewept, and known

Nor end of torment nor surcease of moan,

Rachel or Rizpah, wofullest of nations,

Crowned with the crowning sign of desolations,

And couldst not even scare off with hand or groan

Those carrion birds devouring bone by bone

The children of thy thousand tribulations?

Thou wast our warrior once; thy sons long dead

Against a foe less foul than this made head,

Poland, in years that sound and shine afar;

Ere the east beheld in thy bright sword-blade's stead

The rotten corpse-light of the Russian star

That lights towards hell his bondslaves and their Czar.