Childe Harold's Pilgrimage

   And must they fall—­the young, the proud, the brave —
   To swell one bloated chief’s unwholesome reign? 
   No step between submission and a grave? 
   The rise of rapine and the fall of Spain? 
   And doth the Power that man adores ordain
   Their doom, nor heed the suppliant’s appeal? 
   Is all that desperate Valour acts in vain? 
   And Counsel sage, and patriotic Zeal,
The veteran’s skill, youth’s fire, and manhood’s heart of steel?