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

1941-08-01 / 8. szám

TESTVÉRISÉG

13

Part II

Hail, then to Kossuth, freedom's peerless knight! Tn’ unflinching advocate of right ’gainst might; Whose name confuses despots high on thrones, Erected on their victims’ shrieks and groans; Strikes tyrants’ hearts to tremble and recoil,

Tho’ but a fugitive on foreign soil!

For all well know the mission grave and great — The noblest that e’er fell to mortal’s lot — Entrusted to his care remains a threat,

While yet he lingers on the tiniest spot;

That all their might and splendour of to-day May, by to-morrow’s eve, have passed away.

Hence their relentless hate and furious rage To see the eagle, from his dreary cage Delivered, soar in narrowing circles o’er Their guilty heads, steep’d deep in human gore.

To clip thy wings, and check thy lofty course, What means are left untouched. The whole resource Of slander, falsehood, envy, hate, revenge,

And jealousy, is called in aid, t’avenge

The tyrants’ hopeless cause and tattered gear,

By thy convincing word exposed, and tear The cloak of glory off thy spotless name,

And to bespatter thy unsullied fame.

Encased in brightest armour — right and truth, Foul slander tries in vain to fix its tooth,

With poison charged, on some uncover’d spot,

The mem’ry of thy glorious to blot;

Or to inflict the deadly wound, to save Its masters from the vengeance of the brave.

The freedom of thy far-famed fatherland,

A holy, righteous cause, placed in thy hand:

To stop thy progress and insult thy pen,

Fierce Falsehood rushes from her loathsome den. Rage in her voice, and clamour in her style,

She dares insult thy sacred cause awhile;

With coarse reproofs the multitude beguile,

Thine aspirations scoffingly revile;

Rebellion’s dread attempt proclaim thy plan, Concieved to benefit the race of man,

And call thee traitor to thy country fair,

And rebel ’gainst its king and lawful heir.

To strengthen slander’s tongue and falsehood’s hand, Envenomed envy joins the servile band;

With pride inflated grasps the daring thought Of staining thy renown, so dearly bought,

And pours her phial’s dire contents on thee,

To brand the hero of the brave and free.

With fiery savage eye and bristling hair,

Hate dashes on the stage to claim his share,

And to perform his part due in the game:

Thy hopes to frustrate, and thy noble aim.

Revenge and jealousy to form the rear,

In patriotic raiments too, appear;

A quiver filled with poison’d shaft each bears,