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Home  »  The Complete Poetical Works by William Wordsworth  »  “ENGLAND! THE TIME IS COME WHEN THOU SHOULD’ST WEAN”

“ENGLAND! THE TIME IS COME WHEN THOU SHOULD’ST WEAN”


ENGLAND! the time is come when thou should’st wean Thy heart from its emasculating food; The truth should now be better understood; Old things have been unsettled; we have seen Fair seed-time, better harvest might have been But for thy trespasses; and, at this day, If for Greece, Egypt, India, Africa, Aught good were destined, thou would’st step between. England! all nations in this charge agree: But worse, more ignorant in love and hate, 10 Far–far more abject, is thine Enemy: Therefore the wise pray for thee, though the freight Of thy offences be a heavy weight: Oh grief that Earth’s best hopes rest all with Thee!