INDIGNATION OF A HIGH-MINDED SPANIARD
WE can endure that He should waste our lands, Despoil our temples, and by sword and flame Return us to the dust from which we came; Such food a Tyrant’s appetite demands: And we can brook the thought that by his hands Spain may be overpowered, and he possess, For his delight, a solemn wilderness Where all the brave lie dead. But, when of bands Which he will break for us he dares to speak, Of benefits, and of a future day 10 When our enlightened minds shall bless his sway; ‘Then’, the strained heart of fortitude proves weak; Our groans, our blushes, our pale cheeks declare That he has power to inflict what we lack strength to bear. 1810.