They float, forever unburied,
Their faces turned to the sky;
With their little hands uplifted,
And their lips forever cry:
"Oh, we are the helpless murdered ones,
Blown far on the icy tide!
No sin was ours, but through all the days,
On the northern seas we ride.
No cerements ever enshroud us,
We know no roof of the sod;
We float forever unburied,
With our faces turned to God.
"So foul the deed that undid us,
So damned in its dull disgrace,
That even the sea refused us,
And would not give us place.
Nor ever a place in the sky--
We are lost, we are dead, we are perished,
Ah, Jesu, tell us why!"
* * * * *
Now the Three who heard They wept as one,
But Their tears they might not cease.
Saith God the Father, "While unavenged
These may not know Our peace!
When the sons of men are men again,
And have smitten full with the sword,
At last these sinless but unredeemed
Shall enter unto their Lord.
"But deed like this is a common debt;
It lies on the earth-race whole.
Till these be avenged they be unredeemed--
Each piteous infant soul.
We must weep, We must weep, till the debt be paid,
Te debt of the sons of men--
But well avenged, they are aye redeemed;
Ah, how shall We welcome them then!"