Classic Poem

But thou be bold: let not thy hopes give way,
Nor one discolouring thought shake with dismay:
For though there came about thee all the alarms
Of war, and earnestness of greedy arms,
Not one should touch thine innocence; not one
Harm the dear life, whose duty has been done.
Lo, the great buckler of the radiant Lord!
He shall thy guardian be, and he thy sword:
He, who at night-time, at their silent post,
Melted the hearts of that Assyrian host,
And scared away from the Sionian hold
All who came thronging from Damascus old.
The pallid king with his thick cohorts, he
Bowed into flight and black perplexity;
For o'er their heads the invisible trumpet blew
In the clear air, and the dust lived and flew,
And the earth shook with hoofs, and there came by
The quake of chariots driven, and the cry
Of horses rushing to the war, and rain
Of iron blows, and the dark roar of men.