The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1870-09-06
Ode to Napoleon Bonaparte.


So abject-yet awe
Who strewed our earth with hostile bones,
And can he thus survive?
Since he miscalied the Morning STAR,
Nor man nor fend hath fell so lar.
El.minded man why scourge thy kind
who boW'd so low the knee!
!. gy caz ne on thyseN grown blind,
Thou taught'st the rest TO see.
With might unquestioned.power 70 save
Thine only gift hath been the grave
: To those that worshipped thee;
Nor till thy fall could mprtals guess
Ambitions less than littleness
Thanks for that lesson it " III teach
To after-warriors more
Than high philosophy can preacn,
And Tainly preached before,
That spell upon the minds OF men =
Breaks never to unite again,
That led them 10 adore
Those Pagod things OF sabre sway
with fronts OF brass and feet OF clay.
The triumph and the vanity,
The rapture OF the strife
The earthquake voice OF VICTORY,
To thee the breath OF h'e,
The sword, the sceptre and tnat sway
which man seemed made N"t to obey,
,Wherewirh renown wa
All uuell,d Dark spirit "..at must oe
The madness Of thy memory
The Desolater desolate
The Victor overthrown
The Arbiter Of Others fate
A Suppllant for his own
Is 1t some yet imperial hope
That with such change can caim.y cope
Or dread Of death alone
M fla q nrincp-0r ilSp slave
Thy choice is most igRobly brave
ne vho Of old wculd rend the oak,
Dream'd not Of the rebound,
Chafn,d by the trunk he vainly oroSe-
AloueLhow look'd he J oundf
Thou In the sternneSs OF thy strength
An equal deed hast done at leng.n,
And darker fate hast found:
He fell, the forest nrowler's prey;
But thou must cat Jhy heart away
The Roman when his burning heart >
Wus slaked with blood Of Rome,
Threw down the dagger-darea depart,
:. In savage grandeur, nome
He dared depart in utter scoIn
11f men that such yoke had borne,
yet left him such doom
his only glory was that hour
OF selfnpheld abandoned power.
rne spaniard, when the lust OF sway
had lost its quickening spell,
Cast CROWNS for roBaries away
An empire for cell;
A strict accountant Of his beads,
A subtitle disputant on ereeds,
His dOtage trined well.
Yet better had he neither known
A bigot's shrine, nor despot's throne.
INT thou-from thy reluctant hand
Tho thunderbOlt is wrung-
THO late thou leay'st the high command
To which thy weakness c!ung;
All evil spirit as thou art,
It is enough to grieve the heart
To see thine own unstruug,
To think that Gods fair world had oeen
The foo,stool Of q thing 80 mean.
And earth hath split her blood for him,
who ,hus can hoard his own
And Monarchs how'd the trembling nmo
And thanked him for throne!
Fair Freedomt we may hold thee dear,
When thus thy might!est Toes their lear
In humblest guise have shown:
OH meier may ty' ants leave behind
A brighter name to lure manSindl
Thine evil deeds are writ in gore,
Nor written thus In vain
Thy triumphs tell OF fame no more,
Or deepen every stain:
II thon hadst died as honor dles,
Some new Napoleon might arise,
To shamr the world again
Rnt who would soar the solar helSht
To set In such starless nlgntf
Weich,d in the balance, hero dust
Is vile as vulgar clay;
Thy scales, Mortality are Just
TO all hat pass away;
But yet methought the living great
Some higher arks should anlnase,
To daZZe and dismay
Nor deem'd contempt could thus MAKE mlrt
OF these the Conquerors OF the e@rth.
There was day-there was an hour
While earth was Gaul's-Gaul thine
When that immeasurable power
Unaated to resign
Had been an act or purer 1ame
Than gathers round Marengo'sF name
And pllded thy decline
Through the long twilight OF all tlme
Despite some passing clouds Oh crime.
But thou forsooth must be King
Ana don the purple vest
A = thai foolish robe could wiring
Remembrance from thy breast
Where Is that faded garmeptH Hnere
The gewgaws thou vert fond 10 wear:
The ssar, the striug, the crestf
Vain, froward child OF empire say
Are all thy playthings snatch'd awayf
Nagenta's.