Thro' the mists of years,
Thro' the lies of men,
Your bloody sweat and tears,
Your desperate hopes and fears
Reach us once again.
Brothers, who long ago,
For life's bitter sake
Toiled and suffered so,
Robbery, insult, blow,
Rope and sword and stake:
Toiled and suffered, till
It burst, the brightening hope,
"Might and right" and "will and skill,"
That scorned, and does, and will,
Sword and stake and rope!
Wat and Jack and John,
Tyler, Straw, and Ball,
Souls that faltered not,
Hearts like white iron hot,
Still we hear your call!
Yes, your "bell is rung,"
Yes, for "now is time!"
Come hither, every one,
Brave ghosts whose day's not done,
Avengers of old rime,--
Come and lead the way,
Hushed, implacable,
Suffering no delay,
Forgetting not that day
Dreadful, hateful, fell,
When the liar king,
The liar gentlemen,
Wrought that foulest thing,
Robbing, murdering
Men who'd trusted them! {36}
Come and lead the way,
Hushed, implacable.
What shall stop us, say,
On that day, _our_ day?--
_Not unloosened hell_!
"ANALOGY."
(To D---- L----.)
Had you lived when a tyrant king
Strove to make all the slaves of one,
With nobles and with churchmen you
Had stood unflinching, pure and true,
To annihilate that hateful thing
Green Runnymeade beat out of John?
Had you lived when a wanton crew,
Flash scoundrels of a day outdone,
Trod down the toilers birth derides,
With Cromwell and his Ironsides
The brave days had discovered you,
Where Naseby saw the gallants run?
And yet you,--this same knight in list
For freedom in her narrow dawn
Against that one, against those few,
Vile king, vile nobles--you, yet you
Stand by the bloody Capitalist,
Fight with the pandar Gentleman!