Classic Poem

One man views uncreated light;
The crowd descends to raging night.
One man forgives; the multitude
Reeks of hate and fear and blood.
Can a man be free indeed
When his brothers are not freed.
Or the Kingdom be possessed
When the mob at madness' heat
Changes to a preying beast?
Martyrdom is incomplete.
It is but the link between
What shall be and what has been.
Men saw justice rude begun
When evil was for evil done;
Then the martyr's sacrifice
With good for evil made them wise,
Being but the stepping-stone
To the greater justice shown
Of good exchanged for good alone.
When the multitude become
Nobly wise and calmly free
There will be no martyrdom,
Only reciprocity
Of good interchanged for good
And difference largely understood.
Sacrifice leads into this,
New law with ancient law to blend,
And eternal justice is
The beginning and the end.