Can fix no yoke unless the neck agree;
And thine is like the lion's when the thick
Dews shudder from it, and no man would be
The stroker of his mane, much less would prick
His nostril with a reed. When nations roar
Like lions, who shall tame them, and defraud
Of the due pasture by the river-shore?
Roar, therefore! shake your dew-laps dry abroad.
The amphitheatre with open door
Leads back upon the benches who applaud
The last spear-thruster!
XVIII.
That we should call on passion to confront
The brutal with the brutal, and, amid
This ripening world, suggest a lion-hunt
And lion-vengeance for the wrongs men did
And do now, though the spears are getting blunt.
We only call, because the sight and proof
Of lion-strength hurts nothing; and to show
A lion-heart, and measure paw with hoof,
Helps something, even, and will instruct a foe
Well as the onslaught, how to stand aloof!
Or else the world gets past the mere brute blow
Given or taken. Children use the fist
Until they are of age to use the brain:
And so we needed Cæsars to assist
Man's justice, and Napoleons to explain
God's counsel, when a point was nearly missed,
Until our generations should attain
Christ's stature nearer. Not that we, alas!
Attain already; but a single inch
Will help to look down on the swordsman's pass,
