George Henry Boker - To England I lyrics

Lear and Cordelia! 't was an ancient tale Before thy Shakespeare gave it d**hless fame: The times have changed, the moral is the same. So like an outcast, dowerless, and pale, Thy daughter went; and in a foreign gale Spread her young banner, till its sway became A wonder to the nations. Days of shame Are close upon thee: prophets raise their wail. When the rude Cossack with an outstretched hand Points his long spear across the narrow sea,-- "Lo, there is England!" when thy destiny Storms on thy straw-crowned head, and thou dost stand Weak, helpless, mad, a by-word in the land,-- God grant thy daughter a Cordelia be!