Constitutional Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1824-1832, 1832-09-04
Fox TIKI VINO.
ODE TO POLAND.

Heard We yon murmur low and faint,
Sweep DER the spreading main,
Like dying moan or funeral plaintf
lis Poland's clanking chain.
Her heart is broke, her voice is hushed.
Her fiery soul forever crushed
Beneath a tyranrs rod;
Her banner that late strcamed on high,
Like meteor DER the midnight sky,
Is rent and soiled with blood.
And whore are now those gallant few,
Who late in martial pride,
p To Poland, fame and honor truo,
The northern horde defied?
Nor this alone, but dared withstand
The tyrant, though his savage band
Was numerous as the uncounted sand
That lines the oceans shore;
And never yet the frozen north
Sent bloodicr, greedicr he'll. houpds forth,
To dcluge earth with gore.
Aye! where they? Where yondcr plain
Displays its bosom green,
Go ask tho listess dropping swain
What those vast mounds may mean,
Along the earth thickly spread,
Like such memorials of the dead
As rustick hands mig ut rear?
lie answers with a fearful eye,
Lost Poland's murdered heroes lilo
Enshrined in glory there"
Ask why yon rivers once SO bold,
Scarce moves towards the deep,
Though thus its sullen stream of old
Was never wont to slcep2
II moves as though some task abhorred
BY fate the worlds dcspotic lord
Upon its stream were laid;
Red are its waves with heroes blood,
The channel of its sluggish food
Is chokcd with Poland's dead.
Ask why yon broad and fertile field
Sends thus is products forth,
With vigor none have e'er beheld,
In regions of the north;
Its rapid grswth and verdure wild,
Seem as though nature here had smiled
Like mother on a favorite child
Twas never thus before?
The humbest shepherd, standing by,
The simplest swain can tell you Why
Yon plain that shoots it's growth SO high,
Is rich with Poland's gore.
Why ia yon unfrequented path,
So runous and black,
AS though the Fire King in his wrath
Had passed along its track?
AS though the lightning's fiery wing
Had blasted every living thing
That hourished in it's way;
And srnouldering walls, and blackcncd spiro,
Sad relics of its deadly ire,
Were left to grim decay.
Has hell poured forth her demon race,
To war against mankind7
And is yon vast deserted space
track they left behind?
No-man. frail man, more cruel far,
Has caused the waste thou see'st there,
So grim and desolate-
The arch-fiend's self would blush to see,
The havoc and the misery,
His subjects here create.
All happy they who sank beneath
Yon walls in RUIN piled;
And happier stifl who met with death
Upon the ensanguned field
Whose glorious fate it was to die,
While shouts of JOY and victory,
Still rang from Polish tongues;
With hopes still high, the time might be,
Their sons when they were gone, should see
An end to Poand's wrongs.
Hark! toyon agonizing shrieks;
Oh! how they pierce the soul
'rs there the insensate tyrant wreaks
His vengeance on the Pole;
With maddening grief, and gestures wild,
Lo where .yon mother clasps her child,
In vain attempt to save,
The little wretch must join yon band,
That seek Siberia's frozen land,
Predestined for slave.
And vainly may the mother try,
The tyrant to appease.
Gods! can world stand needless by,
And witness scenes like these?
Britannia, thou who fam wouldn't be-
Eortll's queen, and mistress Of the sea-,
Why does thy lion slcep7
A tyrant's doom could once awake
That roar which made the nations quake,
Yet not one ship for Poland's sake,
is launched into the deep.
And thou too France, did glory lose,
It's every charm for thee,
With him whose halowed bones repOse,
Far far beyond the seat
The empty boast, the valiant threat,
Late made, but not accomplished yet;
The tri-color till furlcd,
The arms not used, though proudly borne,
The Russian laughs the whole to scorn,
Thou jest of all the world.
All loudly did thy threats rosound,
When danger was afar,
But never yet did beaten hound,
Crouch lower when twas near: