Revenge
Spirit of evil, with which earth is rife,
Revenge, revenge! thee all abjure and blame,
Yet when their hour is come invoke thy name;
Base men for thee in secret bare the knife;
The brave partake the peril and the strife;
The weak, the sword more sure of justice claim;
The strong, when they have blasted power and fame,
Give to their foe in scorn the curse of life,
The keenest, bitterest vengeance--
for these all
Are only shapes thou takest to goad the mind,
Turning the heart's pure generous blood to gall;
And thus, revenge, thou stalkst through all the kind
Till mighty nations madden at thy call,
And earth is waste and seas incarnadined.