Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE EAGLE AND THE LION, by GEORGE FREDERICK


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE EAGLE AND THE LION, by                    
First Line: Alone on his rock nigh a hundred years
Last Line: Of earth, and of sea, and of air.
Subject(s): Animals; Blood; Brothers; Courts & Courtiers; Half-brothers; Royal Court Life; Royalty; Kings; Queens


ALONE on his rock nigh a hundred years
He has drowsed with the sun in his eyes.
Dumb watch o'er the yellow sand was his care,
Far west to the far sunrise.
But now he stretches his tawny length —
There is stir in the dusk of the hundred years —
Distant the sounds and great his strength,
So he dozes again with listening ears.

Alone the young eagle above the rock
Swings hither and thither, to and fro,
Watching the smoke and the dust of the earth,
Watching the free wind blow.
Drowsed too — but now he ruffles his crown,
And the evening light in his eyes gloweth red
As he mounts to mark the sun go down,
A century's sun, 'neath the thunderhead.

"Be we brothers or brothers be we not?"
To him on the rock comes down the cry.
And he answers, "Yea, we are kin and kin,
Twain kings of the earth and the sky.
Thou of the lightnings of heaven hast ward,
I of the powers of God's great deep
Gather the thunders. Bare men's children the sword?
'T is time that we rouse us from our sleep."

Woe when the eagle sends cry to heaven
And stoops to the cloud where the tempest lies!
And woe when the lion shall rise on his rock,
Storm-wind in his mane and wrath in his eyes!
Then brother with brother and blood with blood
We shall stand. Alien peoples, beware!
Hold we the dread powers of fire and flood,
Of earth, and of sea, and of air.





Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!


Other Poems of Interest...
Home: PoetryExplorer.net