Page:Joan of Arc - Southey (1796).djvu/129

O'er red-hot ploughshares make me dance to please
Your dotard fancies! Fathers of the church,
Where is your gravity? what elder-like
This fairer than Susannah would you eye? 480
Ye call for ordeals—and I too demand
The noblest ordeal, on the English host
To prove in victory the mission sent
From favoring Heaven. To the Pope refer
For judgment! Know ye not that France even now 485
Stands tottering on destruction!"
Starting wild,
With a strange look, the mission'd Maid exclaim'd,
"The sword of God is here! the grave shall speak
To manifest me!"
Even as she spake,
A pale blue flame rose from the trophied tomb 490
Besides her. A deep silence thro' the dome
Dwelt awful. Sudden from that house of death
The clash of arms was heard, as tho' within
The shrouded warrior shook his mailed limbs.

"Hear