Classic Poem

WRITTEN FOR THE PRINTERS OF SHEFFIELD .

1.

What! here again, Old Caxton?
Thou'rt welcome, as before:
Calm emblem of long-slumbering strength,
That, like a giant, wak'd, at length,
To sleep no more!

2.

Evil lives long, Old Caxton!
Long, too, live sky and sea;
And Truth's worst foes as well might try
To tame and fetter sea and sky,
As conquer thee.

3.

Yet since we last beheld thee,
Five years of shame have past;
And still the toil-worn millions groan,
And traitors still call ours their own,
And grasp it fast.

4.

This is not well, Old Caxton!
Yet still in truth we trust;
If rocks are worn by sea and sky,
The Press may Freedom's foes defy;
They are but dust.

5.

Thou noblest apparition
That mortal eye hath seen,
Since Power went down to Death's dark shore!
Could fitter symbol stand before
A British Queen?