| |
| THERE our murdered brother lies; | |
| Wake him not with woman’s cries; | |
| Mourn the way that manhood ought— | |
| Sit in silent trance of thought. | |
| |
| Write his merits on your mind; | 5 |
| Morals pure and manners kind; | |
| In his head, as on a hill, | |
| Virtue placed her citadel. | |
| |
| Why cut off in palmy youth? | |
| Truth he spoke, and acted truth. | 10 |
| ‘Countrymen, UNITE,’ he cried, | |
| And died for what our Saviour died. | |
| |
| God of peace and God of love! | |
| Let it not Thy vengeance move— | |
| Let it not Thy lightnings draw— | 15 |
| A nation guillotined by law. | |
| |
| Hapless Nation, rent and torn, | |
| Thou wert early taught to mourn; | |
| Warfare of six hundred years! | |
| Epochs marked with blood and tears! | 20 |
| |
| Hunted thro’ thy native grounds, | |
| Or flung reward to human hounds, | |
| Each one pulled and tore his share, | |
| Heedless of thy deep despair. | |
| |
| Hapless Nation! hapless Land! | 25 |
| Heap of uncementing sand! | |
| Crumbled by a foreign weight: | |
| And by worse, domestic hate. | |
| |
| God of mercy! God of peace! | |
| Make this mad confusion cease; | 30 |
| O’er the mental chaos move, | |
| Through it SPEAK the light of love. | |
| |
| Monstrous and unhappy sight! | |
| Brothers’ blood will not unite; | |
| Holy oil and holy water | 35 |
| Mix, and fill the world with slaughter. | |
| |
| Who is she with aspect wild? | |
| The widowed mother with her child— | |
| Child new stirring in the womb! | |
| Husband waiting for the tomb! | 40 |
| |
| Angel of this sacred place, | |
| Calm her soul and whisper peace— | |
| Cord, or axe, or guillotine, | |
| Make the sentence—not the sin. | |
| |
| Here we watch our brother’s sleep: | 45 |
| Watch with us, but do not weep: | |
| Watch with us thro’ dead of night— | |
| But expect the morning light. | |
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