Fraternity-Testvériség, 1941 (19. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)

1941-08-01 / 8. szám

14

TESTVÉRISÉG

And, deaf to sorrows, dumb to bitter cares, Discharge the arrows with malignant joy,

At length their wearied victim to destroy.

But vain are these attempts, of no avail,

And to produce th’ effect desired must fail;

For, of the source polluted whence they spring,

The evidence is written on their wing;

And of that hostile spirit whence they flow The clearest proofs and marks they bear and show. Nay, e’en the piercing holts from Printing Square, Forged by the mighty gods, who thunder there, Who in obscurity securely dwell,

And rancour, gall, and wormwood cheaply sell;

Who with proud arrogance assume to sway By means of brilliant rhetoric’s display,

Or subtle sophists’ artful word-array,

The fate of nations, led to freedom’s day —

Fly harmlessly around thy guiltless brow,

As if afraid to strike, or kept in awe By principles, so cherished by man’s heart,

Whose noblest representative thou art.

Ye tools of tyranny! your fawning guile Pollutes the fame and records of this isle,

Where liberty’s bright, glorious flag unfurled To freedom’s children, exiled o’er the world,

By despots’ hate pursued on ev’ry road,

A harbour promised, and a safe abode.

Your verdicts, tho’ embellished by all arts That sophistry or rhetoric imparts,

Clad in the treach’rous garb of public weal,

The base polemic’s craft best to conceal;

In language couched to dazzle and to sway The unreflecting crowd for just a day;

By dictates of hate’s bitterness adorned,

Will by truth-loving hearts, be spurned and scorned: They bear the stamp, ‘tis proved on ev’ry page,

Of ruthless persecution’s angry rage.

Your efforts, worthy of a nobler aim Than that of playing wily tyrants’ game,

With murd’rous falsehood’s weapons to assault The wand’rer, homeless ’neath wide heaven’s vault, Proclaim to all the world your heart’s disease,

To sacrifice all, if you can but please,

But catch a passing phantom’s thanks and smiles, And banish freedom from the British isles.

Consign such tasks, which slavish minds require, To spirits glowing with despotic ire,

Who, to succeed in tyranny’s defence,

May use detraction and perverted sense; ,

But let such means no longer stain and shame The freeman’s land, the freeman’s boast and fame. Yet, such pestiferous mists which rise from soil ’Neath which revenge and hate and envy boil,

Can tarnish not thy burnished shield, made bright By righteous deeds, that shed a flood of light,

And peerless virtues, which all time defy,

And will be prized by all posterity: