Seemed to us sorrowing; and her speech being said,
⁠Fell, as one who falls dead.
And for a little she too wept, who stood
⁠Above the dust and blood
And thrones and troubles of the world; then spake,
⁠As who bids dead men wake.

'Because the years were heavy on thy head;
⁠Because dead things are dead;
Because thy chosen on hill-side, city and plain
⁠Are shed as drops of rain;
Because all earth was black, all heaven was blind,
⁠And we cast out of mind;
Because men wept, saying Freedom, knowing of thee,
⁠Child, that thou wast not free:
Because wherever blood was not shame was
⁠Where thy pure foot did pass;
Because on Promethean rocks distent
⁠Thee fouler eagles rent;
Because a serpent stains with slime and foam
⁠This that is not thy Rome;
Child of my womb, whose limbs were made in me,
⁠Have I forgotten thee?
In all thy dreams through all these years on wing,
⁠Hast thou dreamed such a thing?
The mortal mother-bird outsoars her nest,
⁠The child outgrows the breast;
But suns as stars shall fall from heaven and cease,
⁠Ere we twain be as these;