Lines Extempore

Quick as the lightning’s vivid flash
The poet’s eye o’er Europe rolls;
Sees battles rage, hears tempests crash,
And dims at horror’s threatening scowls –

Marks ambition’s ruthless king,
With crimson’d banners scathe the globe,
While trailing after conquest’s wing,
Man’s festering wounds his demons probe.

Palled with streams of reeking gore –
That stain the proud imperial day;
He turns to view the Western shore,
Where freedom holds her boundless sway.

‘Tis here her sage triumphant sways
An empire in the people’s love,
‘Tis here the sovereign will obeys
No King but Him who rules above.