"WHAT IF OUR NUMBERS BARELY COULD DEFY"

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Composed 1837.--Published 1837


One of the "Poems dedicated to National Independence and Liberty."--ED.


What if our numbers barely could defy

The arithmetic of babes, must foreign hordes,

Slaves, vile as ever were befooled by words,

Striking through English breasts the anarchy

Of Terror, bear us to the ground, and tie

Our hands behind our backs with felon cords?

Yields every thing to discipline of swords?

Is man as good as man, none low, none high?--

Nor discipline nor valour can withstand

The shock, nor quell[163] the inevitable rout,

When in some great extremity breaks out

A people, on their own beloved Land

Risen, like one man, to combat in the sight

Of a just God for liberty and right.


[163] 1837.

... nor stem ...


C.

THE POETICAL WORKS OF WILLIAM WORDSWORTH, VOL. 8 (Completed)Donde viven las historias. Descúbrelo ahora