Elizabeth Barrett Browning - A Curse for a Nation: The Curse lyrics

Because ye have broken your own chain
 With the strain
Of brave men climbing a Nation’s height
Yet thence bear down with brand and thong
On souls of others, for this wrong
 This is the curse write

Because yourselves are standing straight
 In the state
Of Freedom’s foremost acolyte
Yet keep calm footing all the time
On writhing bond-slaves, for this crime
 This is the curse write

Because ye prosper in God’s name
 With a claim
To honour in the old world’s sight
Yet do the fiend’s work perfectly
In strangling martyrs, for this lie
 This is the curse write

Ye shall watch while kings conspire
Round the people’s smouldering fire
 And, warm for your part
Shall never dare O shame!
To utter the thought into flame
 Which burns at your heart
   This is the curse write

Ye shall watch while nations strive
With the bloodhounds, die or survive
 Drop faint from their jaws
Or throttle them backward to death
And only under your breath
 Shall favour the cause
   This is the curse write

Ye shall watch while strong men draw
The nets of feudal law
 To strangle the weak
And, counting the sin for a sin
Your soul shall be sadder within
 Than the word ye shall speak
   This is the curse write

When good men are praying erect
That Christ may avenge his elect
 And deliver the earth
The prayer in your ears, said low
Shall sound like the tramp of a foe
 That’s driving you forth
   This is the curse write

When wise men give you their praise
They shall pause in the heat of the phrase
 As if carried too far
When ye boast your own charters kept true
Ye shall blush for the thing which ye do
 Derides what ye are
   This is the curse write

When fools cast taunts at your gate
Your scorn ye shall somewhat abate
 As ye look o’er the wall
For your conscience, tradition, and name
Explode with a deadlier blame
 Than the worst of them all
   This is the curse write

Go, wherever ill deeds shall be done
Go, plant your flag in the sun
 Beside the ill doers!
And recoil from clenching the curse
Of God’s witnessing Universe
 With a curse of yours
   This is the curse write