To Pius IX

It may be that the stone which thou art heaving
  From off thy people's neck shall fall and crush thee;
  It may be that the sudden flood shall push thee
  From off the rock, whence, prophet-like, believing
  In God's great future, thou dost set it free;
  Yet heave it, heave it heaven high, nor fear
  To be o'erwhelmed in the first wild career
  Of those long-prisoned tides of liberty.
  That stone which thou hast lifted from the heart
  Of a whole nation shall become to thee
  A glorious monument, such as no art
  E'er piled above a mortal memory:
  Falling beneath it, thou shalt have a tomb
  That shall make low the loftiest dome in Rome.