Epitaph On Algernon Sidney

Here Sidney lies, he whom perverted law,
The pliant jury and the bloody judge,
Doom'd to a traitor's death. A tyrant King
Required, an object country saw and shared
The crime. The noble cause of Liberty
He loved in life, and to that noble cause
In death bore witness. But his country rose
Like Samson from her sleep, and broke her chains,
And proudly with her worthies she enroll'd
Her murder'd Sidney's name. The voice of man
Gives honour or destroys; but earthly power
Gives not, nor takes away, the self-applause
Which on the scaffold suffering virtue feels,
Nor that which God appointed its reward.

Robert Southey . 1774-1843

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Poetry of Southey

Robert Southey
born 1774, died 1843

Poems

For A Tablet At Penshurst
My Days Among The Dead Are Past
Epitaph On King John
Epitaph On Algernon Sidney
The Battle Of Blenheim
Love

See all poems index for
Robert Southey

Epitaph On Algernon Sidney - Robert Southey - poetry, poems

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