Page:Two Poems - Browning and Browning (1854).djvu/5

A PLEA

FOR

THE RAGGED SCHOOLS OF LONDON.

WRITTEN IN ROME.

I.

I am listening here in Rome.

"England's strong," say many speakers,
"If she winks, the Czar must come,
Prow and topsail, to the breakers."

II.

"England's rich in coal and oak,"

Adds a Roman, getting moody,
"If she shakes a travelling cloak,
Down our Appian roll the scudi."