Aubrey De Vere

The Barons at Runnimede

WITH what an awful grace those barons stood
In presence of the king at Runnimede!
Their silent finger to that righteous deed
O’er which, with cheek forsaken of its blood,
He hung, still pointing with stern hardihood,
And brow that spake the unuttered mandate, “Read!”
“Sign!” He glares round.—Never! though thousands bleed
He will not! Hush,—low words, in solemn mood,
Are murmured; and he signs. Great God! were these
Progenitors of our enfeebled kind?
Whose wordy wars are waged to thwart or please
Minions, not kings; who stoop with grovelling mind
To weigh the pauper’s dole, scan right by rule,
And plunder churches to endow a school!