Page:The poems of Richard Watson Gilder, Gilder, 1908.djvu/371

Rh He builds the state who builds on truth,—

Not he who, crushing toward his aim,

Strikes conscience from the throne, and ruth,

To win a dark, unpiteous fame.

Not he, tho' master among men,

Empire and ages all his thought—

Tho' like an eagle be his ken:

Down to the ground shall all be brought.

For this I hold, and shall for aye,

Till Heaven sends death, that they who sow

Hate, and the blood of brothers, they

Shall harvest hate and want and woe—

The curse of Earth's dread agonies

Whereto they added, in their hour,

And all the unheeded tears and cries

They caused in lust of lawless power.

He builds the state who to that task

Brings strong, clean hands, and purpose pure;

Who wears not virtue as a mask;

He builds the state that shall endure—

The state wherein each loyal son

Holds as a birthright from true sires

Treasures of honor, nobly won,

And freedom's never-dying fires.