Come, Peace! not like a mourner bowed For honor lost an' dear ones wasted, But proud, to meet a people proud, 155 With eyes thet tell o' triumph tasted! Come, with han' grippin' on the hilt, An' step thet proves ye Victory's daughter! Longin' for you, our sperits wilt Like shipwrecked men's on raf's for water. 160 Come, while our country feels the lift Of a gret instinct shoutin' forwards, An' knows thet freedom ain't a gift Thet tarries long in han's o' cowards! Come, sech ez mothers prayed for, when 165 They kissed their cross with lips thet quivered, An' bring fair wages for brave men, A nation saved, a race delivered! VILLA FRANCA. [The battles of Magenta and Solferino, in the early summer of 1859, had given promise of a complete emancipation of Italy from the Austrian supremacy, when Napoleon III., who was acting in alliance with Victor Emmanuel, king of Sardinia, held a meeting with the emperor Francis Joseph of Austria at Villa Franca, and agreed to terms which were very far from including the unification of Italy. There was a general distrust of Napoleon, and the war continued with the final result of a united Italy. In the poem which follows Mr. Lowell gives expression to his want of faith in the French emperor.] Wait a little: do _we_ not wait? Louis Napoleon is not Fate, Francis Joseph is not Time; There's One hath swifter feet than Crime; Cannon-parliaments settle naught; 5 Venice is Austria's,--whose is Thought? Minie is good, but, spite of change, Gutenberg's gun has the longest range. Spin, spin, Clotho, spin![24] Lachesis, twist! and, Atropos, sever! 10 In the shadow, year out, year in, The silent headsman waits forever. [Footnote 24: Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos were the three Fates of the ancient mythology; Clotho spun the thread of human destiny, Lachesis twisted it, and Atropos with shears severed it.] Wait, we say; our years are long; Men are weak, but Man is strong; Since the stars first curved their rings, 15 We have looked on many things; Great wars come and great wars go, Wolf-tracks light on polar snow; We shall see him come and gone, This second-hand Napoleon. 20 Spin, spin, Clotho, spin! Lachesis, twist! and, Atropos, sever! In the shadow, year out, year in, The silent headsman waits forever.