Bismarck at Canossa

Not all disgraced, in that Italian town,

The imperial German cowered beneath thine hand,

Alone indeed imperial Hildebrand,

And felt thy foot and Rome�s, and felt her frown

And thine, more strong and sovereign than his crown,

Though iron forged its blood-encrusted band.

But now the princely wielder of his land,

For hatred�s sake toward freedom, so bows down,

No strength is in the foot to spurn: its tread

Can bruise not now the proud submitted head:

But how much more abased, much lower brought low,

And more intolerably humiliated,

The neck submissive of the prosperous foe,

Than his whom scorn saw shuddering in the snow!