Thy life's a warfare, thou a soldier art;
Satan's thy foeman, and a faithful heart
Thy two-edged weapon; patience is thy shield,
Heaven is thy chieftain, and the world thy field.
To be afraid to die, or wish for death,
Are words and passions of despairing breath.
Who doth the first the day doth faintly yield;
And who the second basely flies the field.
--Francis Quarles.
When falls the hour of evil chance--
And hours of evil chance will fall--
Strike, though with but a broken lance!
Strike, though you have no lance at all!
Shrink not, however great the odds;
Shrink not, however dark the hour--
The barest possibility of good
Demands your utmost power.
They are slaves who fear to speak
For the fallen and the weak;
They are slaves who will not choose
Hatred, scoffing and abuse,
Rather than in silence shrink
From the truth they needs must think;
They are slaves who dare not be
In the right with two or three.
--James Russell Lowell.