| |
| NOT with a craven spirit he | |
| Submitted to the harsh decree | |
| That bade him die before his time, | |
| Cut off in manhood’s golden prime,— | |
| Poor Maximilian! | 5 |
| |
| And some who marked his noble mien, | |
| His dauntless heart, his soul serene, | |
| Have deemed they saw a martyr die, | |
| And chorused forth the solemn cry, | |
| “Great Maximilian!” | 10 |
| |
| Alas! Ambition was his sin; | |
| He staked his life a throne to win; | |
| Counted amiss the fearful cost | |
| (As chiefs have done before),—and lost! | |
| Rash Maximilian! | 15 |
| |
| ’T is not the victim’s tragic fate, | |
| Nor calm endurance, makes him great; | |
| Mere lust of empire and renown | |
| Can never claim the martyr’s crown, | |
| Brave Maximilian! | 20 |
| |
| Alas! it fell, that, in thy aim | |
| To win a sovereign’s power and fame, | |
| Thy better nature lost its force, | |
| And royal crimes disgraced thy course, | |
| King Maximilian! | 25 |
| |
| Alas! what ground for mercy’s plea | |
| In his behalf, whose fell decree | |
| Gave soldiers unto felons’ graves, | |
| And freemen to the doom of slaves,— | |
| Fierce Maximilian? | 30 |
| |
| I loathe the rude, barbaric wrath | |
| That slew thee in thy venturous path; | |
| But “they who take,” thus saith the Lord, | |
| “Shall also perish by the sword,” | |
| Doomed Maximilian! | 35 |
| |
| But, when I think upon the scene,— | |
| Thy fearful fate, thy wretched queen,— | |
| And mark how bravely thou didst die, | |
| I breathe again the pitying sigh, | |
| “Poor Maximilian!” | 40 |
| |
