Page:The cry for justice - an anthology of the literature of social protest. - (IA cryforjusticea00sinc).pdf/623

 An Ode in Time of Hesitation

(In these noble words the poet voices his pain at the Philippine war, and the wave of "imperialism" which then swept over America)

Was it for this our fathers kept the law? This crown shall crown their struggle and their ruth? Are we the eagle nation Milton saw Mewing its mighty youth, Soon to possess the mountain winds of truth, And be a swift familiar of the sun Where aye before God's face his trumpets run? Or have we but the talons and the maw, And for the abject likeness of our heart Shall some less lordly bird be set apart?— Some gross-billed wader where the swamps are fat? Some gorger in the sun? Some prowler with the bat?

Ah, no! We have not fallen so. We are our fathers' sons: let those who lead us know! We charge you, ye who lead us, Breathe on their chivalry no hint of stain! Turn not their new-world victories to gain! One least leaf plucked for chaffer from the bays Of their dear praise, One jot of their pure conquest put to hire, The implacable republic will require; With clamor, in the glare and gaze of noon, Or subtly, coming as a thief at night,