From yonder gilded minaret Beside the steel-blue Neva set, I faintly catch, from time to time, The sweet, aerial midnight chime--
"God save the Tsar!"
Above the ravelins and the moats Of the white citadel it floats; And men in dungeons far beneath Listen, and pray, and gnash their teeth--
"God save the Tsar!"
The soft reiterations sweep Across the horror of their sleep,
1 "Little Father," or "Dear Little Father," a term of endearment applied to the Tsar in Russian folk-song. As if some daemon in his glee Were mocking at their misery--
"God save the Tsar!"
In his Red Palace over there, Wakeful, he needs must hear the prayer. How can it drown the broken cries Wrung from his children's agonies?--
"God save the Tsar!"
Father they called him from of old-- Batuschka! . . . How his heart is cold! Wait till a million scourged men Rise in their awful might, and then--
God save the Tsar!
This book is provided by FunNovel Novel Book | Fan Fiction Novel [Beautiful Free Novel Book]