Poems (Cromwell)/Tyranny
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
TYRANNY
This One I feared is powerless become.
Shut lids conceal the leer, the lips are dumb,
And the satiric laugh, that used to scare
Delight away, is silent. Yes, I dare
Consider him disabled, vincible.
And yet, as though I were responsible,
My will to blame for keeping him in bonds
Of unrelenting frost, I fear, I fear
Him still. This mould, marmoreal, austere:
Assumed in death, needs love to read it, yes,
Needs love. For love to the frail flesh responds,
And pities even cruelty, when strife
Has nurtured it. But sleeping powerless,
Of all reproach or pardon unaware—
It is as though my love were lying there.
The taunt of silence takes my life—my life.
Shut lids conceal the leer, the lips are dumb,
And the satiric laugh, that used to scare
Delight away, is silent. Yes, I dare
Consider him disabled, vincible.
And yet, as though I were responsible,
My will to blame for keeping him in bonds
Of unrelenting frost, I fear, I fear
Him still. This mould, marmoreal, austere:
Assumed in death, needs love to read it, yes,
Needs love. For love to the frail flesh responds,
And pities even cruelty, when strife
Has nurtured it. But sleeping powerless,
Of all reproach or pardon unaware—
It is as though my love were lying there.
The taunt of silence takes my life—my life.