Ambarvalia/Burbidge/The Burning of the Tower

by Thomas Burbidge

I.
THE BURNING OF THE TOWER.

Another of our Landmarks swept away!
Another Bulwark of the Faith which clings
To nobler objects than the Present brings,
The money-purchased Glories of To-day,
Self-preached, self-praised! Great Moralists are They
Beneath whose teaching in a Nation springs
The love—or even the consciousness—of things
For which we must do something more than pay:
Fight must we—suffer—hardest task, must wait,
While slowly-mustering Ages consecrate
The Monuments which form a People's heart:
England, who can see thee as thou art,
Irreverent, vain, the fool of pelf and prate,
Nor tremble as thy Monitors depart?