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

1941-11-01 / 11. szám

TESTVÉRISÉG

17

Be scorned by our scribes and Pharisees and the tyrants over men,

And the sordid, selfish crowds that “come so smug upon the mart,”

Still sings it of hope and prophecy, to the wakening human heart!

And as a voice in the Oberlands can loose from some Alpine crown

The gathering and hastening avalanche sent grandly resistless down, (1)

So, from the spirit-pinnacles, thine own hath shaken, to-day, The lauwine of one more great truth on its swift and sounding- way;

It grows, it grows — who meet its strength shall be broken by this; but all

Be ground into powder on whom, at last, its conquering force shall fall!

Let us keep, with high harangues and verse, the anniversary days,

Recall the old heroic deeds with a glow of regret and praise, Cover the land with monuments, and point with patriot thrill To the towering granite of Washington and the column of Bunker Hill, —

Then hope that the spirits of the dead, near the scenes of their glory borne,

May not turn from their children’s eulogies with a wonderful ghostly scorn.

But if the love of freedom burn, as strong as when the host Of rebel heroes did their work — for us to sing and boast — Yet know that better things there be, — to grace these latter days;

“Ah ! fredome is a nobil thing” — the Scottish Barbour says; “He lives at ease that freely lives;” easy old bard, I wis, Freedom has nobler qualities — a loftier aim than this!

Mere love of freedom is no boast; it is a thing we share With the serf in the mine or the boyar’s hall, the savage tattooed and bare;

The love of our own freedom! Methinks too high and long Is it praised by the grave-browed annalist and the poet in his song.

The innate selfishness of men secures it to the kind:

Look through the story of the world — and such is the truth ye find!

To fight against taxing tyrants, when people are too strong To tolerate the stern pretence, — the rapine and the wrong, Shows an impatient manliness — a natural spleen and ire Which men, with instinctive sympathy, must ever approve and admire;

But there is a love of liberty — a holier far, and a higher Sung to, but seldom, heretofore, by the clarion or by the lyre.

(1) In certain parts of the Alps, the guides caution travellers against loud