Had fled ere yet that crown gleamed o’er Napoleon’s eyes.
And how tradition gathered as you gazed!
What relic of such holiness has man
Beheld, with spirit silenced and amazed,
Since awful story of the past began!
It was the “Iron Crown” that from the nail
Of the red Cross on Calvary, for kings
Was fashioned thus! And as we read the tale
E’en now, some memory like an echo rings
Thro’ the astonished heart, until we feel