By the Rev. T. S. Perry.
"Oh! for a year, a month, a day of Oliver Cromwell."--The Independent.
"What Lord Salisbury seems to lack is a little Cromwellian courage."--A
Speaker in City Temple, London.
1.
Oh! for an hour of Cromwell,
For a leader brave and grand
To guide the wrath, and point the path,
Of a mighty Christian land!
To heed the cry of innocent blood,
To blush for the world's disgrace,
With hand to deal a blow of steel
In the murderous Moslem's face!
2.
Alas! for a leader heedless
While massacred villages flame,
Unmoved by shrieks of maidenhood
At wrong too foul for name!
Strong to throttle the feeble,
Feeble to beard the strong,
With eye o'er-meek, and blanching cheek,--
How long, O Lord, how long?
3.
And women cover their faces,
And men are fain to hiss.
Cromwell's head upon Temple Bar
Were a leader better than this!
And heaven grows black with horror,
And earth grows red with wrong,
And martyrs cry from earth and sky,
How long, O Lord, how long?
Orange Park, Florida.