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. On the Results of the Last French Revolution
2. The Same
3. To the Same (If sorrow came not near us, and the lore)
4. To the Same (Songs of deliverance compassed thee about)
5. To the Same (We live not in our moments or our years)

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