Read "Cry of the Homeless after the Prussian Invasion of Belgium" by Thomas Hardy online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
"INSTIGATOR of the ruin- / Whichsoever thou mayst be / Of the masterful of Europe / That contrived our misery- / Hear the wormwood-worded greeting / From each city, shore, and lea / Of thy victims: / "Conqueror, all hail to thee!"
"Yea: ‘All hail! ' we grimly shout thee / That wast author, fount, and head / Of these wounds, whoever proven / When our times are throughly read. / ‘May thy loved be slighted, blighted, / And forsaken,' be it said / By thy victims, / ‘And thy children beg their bread!'
"Nay: a richer malediction! - / Rather let this thing befall / In time's hurling and unfurling / On the night when comes thy call; / That compassion dew thy pillow / And bedrench thy senses all / For thy victims, / Till death dark thee with his pall. "