Page:Poems (Fields)-1.djvu/102

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
86
COMMERCE.
Sing of the Grecian States, that warlike bandWhich held the ocean in its dread command;Of Cæsar's glory, when his navies furledTheir sails before the granary of the world;Of Afric's spoils by Vandals rent away,And Eastern empires waning to decay.
 Stand forth, old Venice—Genoa—Pisa—Rome! With all your galleys on the crested foam; Say, where are now your royal merchants seen? Go ask the Red-Cross Knight at Palestine!
 But lo! what crowds on Albion's shores arise,Of noble fleets with costly merchandize;What swift-winged ships rush in from every strand,To swell the coffers of her teeming land,While lofty flags proclaim on every breezeThe Island Queen,—the Mistress of the Seas!
 Look to the West,—the Elysian borders view!See where from Palos speeds yon wearied crew:
This article is issued from Wikisource. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.