“Once draw the sword; its burning point shall bring
To thy quick nerves a never-ending sting;
The blood they shed thy weight of wo shall swell,
And their grim ghosts for ever with thee dwell.”
The Conspiracy of Kings (1792)
Context: Once draw the sword; its burning point shall bring
To thy quick nerves a never-ending sting;
The blood they shed thy weight of wo shall swell,
And their grim ghosts for ever with thee dwell. Learn hence, ye tyrants, ere ye learn too late,
Of all your craft th' inevitable fate.
The hour is come, the world's unclosing eyes
Discern with rapture where its wisdom lies;
From western heav'ns th' inverted Orient springs,
The morn of man, the dreadful night of kings.
Dim, like the day-struck owl, ye grope in light,
No arm for combat, no resource in sight;
If on your guards your lingering hopes repose,
Your guards are men, and men you've made your foes;
If to your rocky ramparts ye repair,
De Launay's fate can tell your fortune there.
No turn, no shift, no courtly arts avail,
Each mask is broken, all illusions fail;
Driv'n to your last retreat of shame and fear,
One counsel waits you, one relief is near :
By worth internal, rise to self-wrought fame,
Your equal rank, your human kindred claim;
'Tis Reason's choice, 'tis Wisdom's final plan,
To drop the monarch and assume the man.
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Joel Barlow 29
American diplomat 1754–1812Related quotes

St. 9
Rugby Chapel (1867)

“The vast applause shall reach the starry frame,
No years, no ages shall obscure thy fame,
And Earth's last ends shall hear thy darling name.”
Gratantes plausu excipient: tua gloria coelo
Succedet, nomenque tuum sinus ultimus orbis
Audiet, ac nullo diffusum abolebitur aevo.
Book III, line 522
De Arte Poetica (1527)

Her poem in "The Golden Treasury of Indo-Anglian Poetry, 1828-1965", p=161
Poetry

The London Literary Gazette (3rd January 1835) Versions from the German (First Series.) - 'The Gathering' — Koerner.
Translations, From the German
"The Sacred Poets of England and America For Three Centuries" printed 1848.