Batuschka by Thomas Bailey Aldrich — Read

From yonder gilded minaret

Beside the steel-blue Neva set,

I faintly catch, from time to time,

The sweet, aerial midnight chime--

"God save the Tsar!"

Above the ravelins and the moats

Of the white citadel it floats;

And men in dungeons far beneath

Listen, and pray, and gnash their teeth--

"God save the Tsar!"

The soft reiterations sweep

Across the horror of their sleep,

"Little Father," or "Dear Little Father,"

a term of endearment applied

to the Tsar in Russian folk-song.

As if some daemon in his glee

Were mocking at their misery--

"God save the Tsar!"

In his Red Palace over there,

Wakeful, he needs must hear the prayer.