Poem by Richard Chenevix Trench

England (Peace, Freedom, Happiness, have loved to wait)

Peace, Freedom, Happiness, have loved to wait
On the fair islands, fenced by circling seas,
And ever of such favoured spots as these
Have the wise dreamers dreamed, that would create
That perfect model of a happy state,
Which the world never saw. Oceana,
Utopia such, and Plato’s isle that lay
Westward of Gades and the Great Sea’s gate.
Dreams are they all, which yet have helped to make
That underneath fair polities we dwell,
Though marred in part by envy, faction, hate--
Dreams which are dear, dear England, for thy sake,
Who art indeed that sea-girt citadel,
And nearest image of that perfect state.

1. To a Friend Entering the Ministry
2. To the Same (Songs of deliverance compassed thee about)
3. Sonnet to Silvio Pellico, on Reading the Account of His Imprisonment
4. Lines
5. Sonnet (What good soever in thy heart or mind)

Print

1220 Views

Last Poems

To Russian version