AND the night was dark and calm, <br />There was not a breath of air, <br />The leaves of the grove were still, <br />As the presence of death were there; <br /> <br />Only a moaning sound <br />Came from the distant sea, <br />It was as if, like life, <br />It had no tranquillity. <br /> <br />A warrior and a child <br />Pass'd through the sacred wood, <br />Which, like a mystery, <br />Around the temple stood. <br /> <br />The warrior's brow was worn <br />With the weight of casque and plume, <br />And sun-burnt was his cheek, <br />And his eye and brow were gloom. <br /> <br />The child was young and fair, <br />But the forehead large and high, <br />And the dark eyes' flashing light <br />Seem'd to feel their destiny. <br /> <br />They enter'd in the temple, <br />And stood before the shrine, <br />It stream'd with the victim's blood, <br />With incense and with wine. <br /> <br />The ground rock'd beneath their feet, <br />The thunder shook the dome, <br />But the boy stood firm, and swore <br />Eternal hate to Rome. <br /> <br />There's a page in history <br />O'er which tears of blood were wept, <br />And that page is the record <br />How that oath of hate was kept.<br /><br />Letitia Elizabeth Landon<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/hannibal-s-oath/
