Who bids us backward-laggards, stay!
As soon wave back the light of day!
We have not marched so long a way
To yield at last, like craven things,
To worn-out nobles, priests, and kings.
Go bid the eagle clip its wing!
Go bid the tempest cease to sing,
And streams to burst, and tides to spring;
And, should they listen to your call,
We’ll onward still, and face you all!
Oh! we have battled long and true;
While you were many, we were few,
And stronger chains we’ve broken through:
Think not your paltry silken bands
Can bind Progression’s giant hands.
Go stay the earthquake in the rock,
Go quench the hot volcano’s shock,
And fast the foaming cataract lock:
Ye cannot build the walls to hold
A daring heart and spirit bold.
Forbid the flowery mould to bloom,
Where years have scathed a tyrant’s tomb,
And tell us slavery is our doom:
E’en as the peaceful march of time
Moulders the rampart’s stony prime,
So calm Progression’s steady sway
Shall sap and sweep your power away.
(Ernest Jones)
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