The Poetical Works of Elizabeth Barrett Browning Volume IV Part 14

XI.

And a cry went up, a cry from all that people!

--You have heard a people cheering, you suppose, For the Member, mayor ... with chorus from the steeple?

This was different: scarce as loud, perhaps (who knows?), For we saw wet eyes around us ere the close.

XII.

And we felt as if a nation, too long borne in By hard wrongers,--comprehending in such att.i.tude That G.o.d had spoken somewhere since the morning, That men were somehow brothers, by no plat.i.tude,-- Cried exultant in great wonder and free grat.i.tude.

A TALE OF VILLAFRANCA.

TOLD IN TUSCANY.

I.

My little son, my Florentine, Sit down beside my knee, And I will tell you why the sign Of joy which flushed our Italy Has faded since but yesternight; And why your Florence of delight Is mourning as you see.

II.

A great man (who was crowned one day) Imagined a great Deed: He shaped it out of cloud and clay, He touched it finely till the seed Possessed the flower: from heart and brain He fed it with large thoughts humane, To help a people's need.

III.

He brought it out into the sun-- They blessed it to his face: "O great pure Deed, that hast undone So many bad and base!

O generous Deed, heroic Deed, Come forth, be perfected, succeed, Deliver by G.o.d's grace."

IV.

Then sovereigns, statesmen, north and south, Rose up in wrath and fear, And cried, protesting by one mouth, "What monster have we here?

A great Deed at this hour of day?

A great just Deed--and not for pay?

Absurd,--or insincere."

V.

"And if sincere, the heavier blow In that case we shall bear, For where's our blessed 'status quo,'

Our holy treaties, where,-- Our rights to sell a race, or buy, Protect and pillage, occupy, And civilize despair?"

VI.

Some muttered that the great Deed meant A great pretext to sin; And others, the pretext, so lent, Was heinous (to begin).

Volcanic terms of "great" and "just"?

Admit such tongues of flame, the crust Of time and law falls in.

VII.

A great Deed in this world of ours?

Unheard of the pretence is: It threatens plainly the great Powers; Is fatal in all senses.

A just Deed in the world?--call out The rifles! be not slack about The national defences.

VIII.

And many murmured, "From this source What red blood must be poured!"

And some rejoined, "'T is even worse; What red tape is ignored!"

All cursed the Doer for an evil Called here, enlarging on the Devil,-- There, monkeying the Lord!

IX.

Some said it could not be explained, Some, could not be excused; And others, "Leave it unrestrained, Gehenna's self is loosed."

And all cried "Crush it, maim it, gag it!

Set dog-toothed lies to tear it ragged, Truncated and traduced!"

X.

But HE stood sad before the sun (The peoples felt their fate).

"The world is many,--I am one; My great Deed was too great.

G.o.d's fruit of justice ripens slow: Men's souls are narrow; let them grow.

My brothers, we must wait."

XI.

The tale is ended, child of mine, Turned graver at my knee.

They say your eyes, my Florentine, Are English: it may be.

And yet I've marked as blue a pair Following the doves across the square At Venice by the sea.

XII.

Ah child! ah child! I cannot say A word more. You conceive The reason now, why just to-day We see our Florence grieve.

Ah child, look up into the sky!

In this low world, where great Deeds die, What matter if we live?

A COURT LADY.

I.

Her hair was tawny with gold, her eyes with purple were dark, Her cheeks' pale opal burnt with a red and restless spark.

II.

Never was lady of Milan n.o.bler in name and in race; Never was lady of Italy fairer to see in the face.