Elizabeth Barrett Browning - A Tale of Villafranca lyrics
[Elizabeth Barrett Browning - A Tale of Villafranca lyrics]
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
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
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 God’s grace"
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"
"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?"
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
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
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!
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!"
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
God’s fruit of justice ripens slow:
Men’s souls are narrow let them grow
My brothers, we must wait"
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
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?
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
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
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 God’s grace"
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"
"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?"
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
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
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!
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!"
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
God’s fruit of justice ripens slow:
Men’s souls are narrow let them grow
My brothers, we must wait"
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
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?