An August Voice

I.
You’ll take back your Grand-duke?
&nbspI made the treaty upon it.
Just venture a quiet rebuke;
&nbspDall’ Ongaro write him a sonnet;
Ricasoli gently explain
&nbspSome need of the constitution:
He’ll swear to it over again,
&nbspProviding an “easy solution.”
You’ll call back the Grand-duke.

II.
You’ll take back your Grand-duke?
&nbspI promised the Emperor Francis
To argue the case by his book,
&nbspAnd ask you to meet his advances.
The Ducal cause, we know
&nbsp(Whether you or he be the wronger),
Has very strong points;—although
&nbspYour bayonets, there, have stronger.
You’ll call back the Grand-duke.

III.
You’ll take back your Grand-duke?
&nbspHe is not pure altogether.
For instance, the oath which he took
&nbsp(In the Forty-eight rough weather)
He’d “nail your flag to his mast,”
&nbspThen softly scuttled the boat you
Hoped to escape in at last,
&nbspAnd both by a “Proprio motu.”
You’ll call back the Grand-duke.

IV.
You’ll take back your Grand-duke?
&nbspThe scheme meets nothing to shock it
In this smart letter, look,
&nbspWe found in Radetsky’s pocket;
Where his Highness in sprightly style
&nbspOf the flower of his Tuscans wrote,
“These heads be the hottest in file;
&nbspPray shoot them the quickest.” Quote,
And call back the Grand-duke.

V.
You’ll take back your Grand-duke?
&nbspThere are some things to object to.
He cheated, betrayed, and forsook,
&nbspThen called in the foe to protect you.
He taxed you for wines and for meats
&nbspThroughout that eight years’ pastime
Of Austria’s drum in your streets—
&nbspOf course you remember the last time
You called back your Grand-duke?

VI.
You’ll take back the Grand-duke?
&nbspIt is not race he is poor in,
Although he never could brook
&nbspThe patriot cousin at Turin.
His love of kin you discern,
&nbspBy his hate of your flag and me—
So decidedly apt to turn
&nbspAll colours at the sight of the Three.
You’ll call back the Grand-duke.

VII.
You’ll take back your Grand-duke?
&nbsp’T was weak that he fled from the Pitti;
But consider how little he shook
&nbspAt thought of bombarding your city!
And, balancing that with this,
&nbspThe Christian rule is plain for us;
... Or the Holy Father’s Swiss
&nbspHave shot his Perugians in vain for us.
You’ll call back the Grand-duke.

VIII.
Pray take back your Grand-duke.
&nbsp—I, too, have suffered persuasion.
All Europe, raven and rook,
&nbspScreeched at me armed for your nation.
Your cause in my heart struck spurs;
&nbspI swept such warnings aside for you:
My very child’s eyes, and Hers,
&nbspGrew like my brother’s who died for you.
You’ll call back the Grand-duke?

IX.
You’ll take back your Grand-duke?
&nbspMy French fought nobly with reason,—
Left many a Lombardy nook
&nbspRed as with wine out of season.
Little we grudged what was done there,
&nbspPaid freely your ransom of blood:
Our heroes stark in the sun there
&nbspWe would not recall if we could.
You’ll call back the Grand-duke?

X.
You’ll take back your Grand-duke?
&nbspHis son rode fast as he got off
That day on the enemy’s hook,
&nbspWhen I had an epaulette shot off.
Though splashed (as I saw him afar—no
&nbspNear) by those ghastly rains,
The mark, when you’ve washed him in Arno,
&nbspWill scarcely be larger than Cain’s.
You’ll call back the Grand-duke?

XI.
You’ll take back your Grand-duke?
&nbsp’T will be so simple, quite beautiful:
The shepherd recovers his crook,
&nbsp... If you should be sheep, and dutiful.
I spoke a word worth chalking
&nbspOn Milan’s wall—but stay,
Here’s Poniatowsky talking,—
&nbspYou’ll listen to him to-day,
And call back the Grand-duke.

XII.
You’ll take back your Grand-duke?
&nbspObserve, there’s no one to force it,—
Unless the Madonna, Saint Luke
&nbspDrew for you, choose to endorse it.
I charge you, by great Saint Martino
&nbspAnd prodigies quickened by wrong,
Remember your Dead on Ticino;
&nbspBe worthy, be constant, be strong—
Bah!—call back the Grand-duke!!