Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Americas: Vol. XXX. 1876–79.
Maximilian at Queretaro
By Margaret Junkin Preston (1820–1897)T
August with histories hoary,
Whose grand, imperial heirship shines
With the starriest names of story,—
Stands doomed to die:—and the grenadiers
In serried and silent column,
Their pitiless eyes half hazed with tears,
Are waiting the signal solemn.
It never has shown so regal;
Yet it is not the pride of the Hapsburg now,
Nor the glance of the clefted eagle.
No blazing coronet binds his head,
No ermined purple is round him;
But his manhood’s majesty instead
With royaller rank has crowned him.
To Schönbrunn’s peaceful bowers;
There ’s a lightning-dazzle of boyhood’s day;
Vienna’s glittering towers
Flash back with a mocking, blinding glare;
To barter such princely splendor,
For wrecked ambition and stark despair,
Betrayal and base surrender!
His soul to its molten centre;
Remorses that madden him clamor still,
But he will not let them enter.
The grovelling traffic of time all done,
He would have the temple lonely,
Its sanctuaries emptied one by one,
That God may fill it only.
Aglow with a light elysian,
The mullioned windows of Miramar
Loom out on his tortured vision:
He looks on its gray abeles again;
He is threading its pleachèd alleys;
He is guiding his darling’s slackened rein,
As they scour the dimpled valleys.
Step forth to his doom, nor shiver,—
Eternity front his steadfast eye,
And never a muscle quiver:
But love’s heart-rackings, despairs, and tears
Wrench the fixt lips asunder;
“My poor Carlotta!”—Now, grenadiers,
Your volley may belch its thunder!