Fallen Idols

Stedfastness, shall we find it, then, at all?
Is it that as the winds blow north and south,
So must be praises from the loud world’s mouth,
Which on its heroes in their glory fall?

Because the voice grows stiller, or the arm
No longer can beat evils back; because
The shoulders sink beneath new-rising cause,
And the fine thought has lost its moving charm;

Because of these shall puny sages shake
Their heads, and haste to mock the failing one,
Who in his strength could make the nations quake;

Prophet like Daniel, King like Solomon!
In this full time we have seen mockers run
About the throne of such as Tennyson.