Page:Fifes and Drums, Poems of America at War, Vigilantes, 1917.djvu/85



gates of the Siberian waste stand wide;

Great joy has thrilled the mighty wilderness;

The message of the Lord has come to bless

The souls in bondage: broken is the pride

Of the invincible tyrant who doth ride

On human hearts, and thrones him on distress!

Fallen he is! his victims numberless

Fill the long roads by steppe and mountain-side.

So when our Lord descended into hell

And broke the fetters of the spirits in prison,

A glorious company to heaven made way.

What triumph more divine doth history tell

Than Truth from her captivity arisen,

And Faith rejoicing in her holy ray!

George E. Woodberry 79