Poems (Wordsworth, 1815)/Volume 2/The power of Armies

by William Wordsworth

XXX.

1811.

 

---

---

 

The power of Armies is a visible thing,
Formal, and circumscribed in time and place;
But who the limits of that power can trace
Which a brave People into light can bring,
Or hide, at will,—for Freedom combating,
By just revenge enflamed? No foot can chase.
No eye can follow to a fatal place
That power, that spirit, whether on the wing
Like the strong wind, or sleeping like the wind
Within its awful caves.—From year to year
Springs this indigenous produce far and near;
No craft this subtle element can bind,
Rising like water from the soil, to find
In every nook a lip that it may cheer.