Page:Songs, Legends, and Ballads.djvu/39

Rh

HERE is blood on the face of the earth—
 * It reeks through the years, and is red:

Where Truth was slaughtered at birth,
 * And the veins of Liberty bled.

Lo! vain is the hand that tries
 * To cover the crimson stain:

It spreads like a plague, and cries
 * Like a soul in writhing pain.

It wasteth the planet's flesh;
 * It calleth on breasts of stone:

God holdeth His wrath in a leash
 * Till the hearts of men atone.

Blind, like the creatures of time;
 * Cursed, like all the race,