Britain ... - Blue-Lite

416 EDGAR'S ADIEU TO ENGLAND.
EDGAR THE ETHELING'S
gftrfett to
FAREWELL, farewell ! a long farewell to thee my island
home !
I'm on the sea, the mighty sea, amid its sheeted foam.
Deeply I sigh, as on thy cliffs the last faint sunlight falls,
To think on all the joys I've known within thy kingly halls ;
To think on all the bitter tears I've o'er thy miseries shed,
To see thee in a tyrant's chain, a bleeding captive led.
These brows have worn St. Edward's wreath, which thou
didst give to me,
As round the bannered throne of state thy nobles bowed
the knee.
The Norman now that crown doth wear, thy princes all
are slaves,
And Freedom's gallant warriors sleep cold in their blood-
stained graves.
There's glory on thy brow, as yields the setting sun to night,
So Freedom yet on thee shall shed her own refulgent light,
Nor shall that light, like yonder sun, in darkness e'er decline,
But, gathering strength from age to 'age,
still with new
splendour shine.
* See Note 47, Page 435.