What if it be the mission of that age

My death will usher into life, to shake

This torpor of assurance from our creed,

Reintroduce the doubt discarded, bring

That formidable danger back, we drove

Long ago to the distance and the dark?

No wild beast now prowls round the infant camp:

We have built wall and sleep in city safe:

But if some earthquake try the towers that laugh,

To think they once saw lions rule outside,