The nations are all calling
To and fro, from strand to strand;
Uniting in one army
The slaves of every land.
Lopsided thrones are creaking,
For ‘ loyalty’ is dead;
And commonsense is speaking
Of honesty instead.
And coming Freedom whispers,
‘Mid the rushing of her wings,
Of loyalty to nature,
Not loyalty to kings.
The gold along the counters,
Rings no longer pure and clear;
For ’tis coined with blood of childhood,
And ’tis stamped with manhood’s tear.
And the bank-notes of the usurer,
That ‘ justice’ buy and sell,
Are the title-deeds ensuring
His heritage in hell.
The church doors are worm-eaten,
Where the well-paid parson drones;
And the loud bells in the steeples.
Have learned unwonted tones:
In Padua and Pavia,
‘Tis not to prayers they call;
But they summon all the citizens,
To conquer or to fall.
Well may the bell-tower tremble,
And the parson shake betimes;
For the sanctuary shall cease to be
A sanctuary for crimes.
From mountains old and hoary,
First Liberty came down;
Like the avalanche her footfall,
Like the thunder-cloud her frown.
On Friburg’s towers she lighted,
And the Lawine rushed below;
And the blackness of long bigotry
Was swept as white as snow.
And far among the glaciers
Were answering voices found,
As the thunder-blast of Freedom
Reverberated round.
And she gazed from her Lake-Palace,
From Lucerne’s mimic sea,
And smiling she beheld
That Switzerland was free.
Then from her southward mountains
Looked downward where, below,
The Arno wind and Lido,
And the Brenla and the Po.
She saw the Austrian Tiger,
In Lombardy the fair,
Preparing for a bound
As he crouched within his lair.
But downward still she wandered
To monarchy’s own home;
And the dust of empires trembled
As she passed the gate of Rome.
And: ‘ I will make ye battle,
Ye conquerors of mankind:
The tyranny of force
With the tyranny of mind!’
Then she brought the twain together
In the gorgeous Vatican:
The pontiff and the emperor,
The monarch and the man.
And who think ye won the battle?
Thus the rapid changes fled-
‘Twas the man of mind who conquered,
And the man of swords who fled!
Then Freedom rose immortal,
As Freedom ever must,
Though Caesar’s tombs are ruins,
And Mammon’s temples dust.
And southward still she wandered
To Naples’ fairy bay,
Where ‘neath its grand volcano,
The town-volcano lay.
Vesuvius unto ?tna
Then waved its wild alarms,
Till news were brought to Naples
That Trinacria was in arms.
On the mole the people gathered,
As they saw the troops return,
From their death-bed at Palermo,
To Napoli their urn.
And a heart-quake heaved around-
And the city poured its might:
A tyrant reigned at morn,
And a people reigned at night.
Then threatened loud the Austrian,
And said he’d march his men
And loudly answered Italy:
We’ll hurl them back again!’
Why stays the Austrian bloodhound,
Tho’ he scents each noble prey-?
He’s strong and armed and mighty-
And he fears-for so are they!
And the bayonet’s insufficient
To do the work of war,
So he arms his gallant soldiers
With-what, think you?-a cigar!’
Ah! nations! take the omen,
That tyranny is broke-
And all its powers and greatness
Are passing hence-in smoke!
Then northward wandered Freedom,
Where Elbe and Danube flow,
And Ferdinand and Frederick have
Their people for their foe!
Like unbound Roman fasces,
Lie the states with dukes and kings:-
She’ll bind them in one rod
To scourge the sceptred things.
By Hungary she’s passing,
And blunt grows Szela’s knife;
And the famished of Silesia
Are thinking of their life.
Bohemia’s mountains echo
Tones of Ziska’s drum,
And the nobles see in thought
The modern Hussites come.
E’en Russia’s frozen north
Is dawning on our ken,
And sends Bakounine forth
To tell us it has men!
She breathed on Poland’s plains
And her tears fell thick and fast:
Conqueror of the future,
And martyr of the past!
But prouder grew her glance
And sterner grew her mien,
As westward still she wandered
To Rhone and Loire and Seine.
She frowned in high defiance,
Where the Bastille once had frowned
And she spoke no word of wonder,
But she pointed all around.
Then Paris rose impatient,-
So impatient at delay,
It could not bide to wait
A dying tyrant’s day.
And ‘neath its hundred Bastilles
The cry heaved to and fro:
The victory’s the completer,
The stronger is the foe.
Blow, breezes of La Vendee,
Mistuned by brave Charette!
Ring, thunders of Napoleon,
To nobler music set!
March, old imperial soldiers,
But march in better cause,
And bare the blade of tyrants
To fight in Freedom’s wars.
This time the people’s power
The people’s cause shall own;
Then up with the Republic,
And downward with the throne!
Still onward Freedom wandered,
Till she touched the British soil;
Elysium of money
And Tartarus of toil!
And loudly here she chided;
‘My chosen people, ye!
I gave ye many chances:
Why so long in growing free?
‘Ye bend in resignation,
A tame and patient herd!
Union be the motto,
And onward! be the word!
‘Why weeps your sorrowing sister,
Still bleeding unredressed,
‘Neath Russell, England’s Nicholas,
The Poland of the west?
‘Cry: “Liberty to Erin!”*
It is a debt ye owe:
Had ye not armed his hand,
He ne’er had struck a blow.
‘Cry: “Liberty to Erin!”
With iron in the tone,
For while ye slight her rights,
Ye scarce deserve your own.’
The Briton and the Celt
Are gathering side by side;
What ocean cannot part,
That man shall not divide.
Athwart that famous ‘gulf,’
Though swift its current hies,
We soon can build a bridge
With dead monopolies.
For hark ! to Freedom’s call
The fatal spell is broke;
Repeal means-Union of the slaves,
And reverence of the yoke.
Then, Hurrah for the Charter,
On Shannon, Thames, and Tweed;
Now, scythemen! to the harvest!
Reap! you who sowed the seed.
(Ernest Jones)
More Poetry from Ernest Jones:
Ernest Jones Poems based on Topics: Mind, Man, Death & Dying, Night, Life, Thought & Thinking, Money & Wealth, Hell, Gold, Liberty & Freedom, Tyranny & Despotism- The Painter Of Florence (Ernest Jones Poems)
- The Battle-Day, Or, The Lost Army (Ernest Jones Poems)
- The Life Of A Flower (Ernest Jones Poems)
- Leawood Hall (Ernest Jones Poems)
- Plough And Loom (Ernest Jones Poems)
- Percy Vere, The Peer's Story - Introduction (Ernest Jones Poems)
Readers Who Like This Poem Also Like:
Based on Topics: Man Poems, Life Poems, Night Poems, Mind Poems, Death & Dying Poems, Nature Poems, War & Peace Poems, Fairness Poems, Christianity Poems, Cry Poems, Kings & Queens PoemsBased on Keywords: insufficient, nicholas, switzerland, bohemia, shannon, poland, thunder-cloud, repeal, pontiff, russell, uniting