The nations shall rush like the rushing of many waters
... and shall be chased before the wind.—Isaiah.
GREECE
Aeons of old were wandering down the seas,
When Homer sang at Chios—and the sweet
Tranquillity of marching silences
Was broken at my feet.
Great dawns have shown the way
When we have wandered.
God, in the battle sway,
What have we squandered?
ITALY
Avid and Roman born in soul and sense,
Master of all else but myself was I,
When, bound by silken cords of indolence,
I saw the world go by.
FRANCE
Ravaging, roystering and repenting—save
In story and the regions of romance,
Rises the moon on whom more mad and brave,
Or beautiful than France?
GERMANY
Once German arms and German armies hurled
Thunders on Rome. Than mine no readier hand
Would wake the violin and woo the world,
Were it a fairyland.