Youth (Holmes)

Why linger round the sunken wrecks Where old Armadas found their graves? Why slumber on the sleepy decks While foam and clash the angry waves? Up! when the storm-blast rends the clouds, And winged with ruin sweeps the gale, Young feet must climb the quivering shrouds, Young hands must reef the bursting sail!

Leave us to fight the tyrant creeds Who felt their shackles, feel their scars; The cheerful sunlight little heeds The brutes that prowled beneath the stars; The dawn is here, the day star shows The spoils of many a battle won, But sin and sorrow still are foes That face us in the morning sun.

Who sleeps beneath you bannered mount The proudly sorrowing mourner seeks, The garland-bearing crowd surrounds? A light-haired boy with beardless cheeks! 'Tis time this "fallen world" should rise; Let youth the sacred work begin! What nobler task, what fairer prize Than earth to save and Heaven to win?