Classic Poem

Speak! timid votaries of truth!
Leave not the honest word unsaid; —
Condemn the conquering lie, forsooth,
Lest Justice bow her high-borne head
In shame and Wrong go unrebuked
And this once free and favored land
Be drugged, hate-poisoned, cowed and yoked
With sin under the Iron Hand!

Speak out! The Old World lies in dust, —
The New is dreaming in new chains!
Her torch expires, snuffed by the gust
Of war that swept and charred her plains;
Tarnished the lustre of her shield,
Faded the star upon her brow, —
Are ye all cowards that you yield?
Speak for the truth, speak out, speak now!

By night like a hunted thief Peace came
And stole the glistering tapestries
That hid our secret tears and shame,
Left us alone with our dead and lies
To face the years of reckoning,
To bear the grief and pay the bill; —
Can you in Freedom's withering
And in the wreck of dreams be still?

O, speak with angels' tongues! Confess
The crime and folly of the war, —
For we who loved no honor less,
But truth and brotherhood loved more,
Cry to you from our silent cells! . .
The world's reborn without you . . See!
Dawn-red o'er Russia's tolling bells, —
Flame-vision of the Age to be!