Poems with Power to Strengthen the Soul. Various

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СКАЧАТЬ though with but a broken lance!

      Strike, though you have no lance at all!

      Shrink not, however great the odds;

      Shrink not, however dark the hour—

      The barest possibility of good

      Demands your utmost power.

      ———

      They are slaves who fear to speak

      For the fallen and the weak;

      They are slaves who will not choose

      Hatred, scoffing and abuse,

      Rather than in silence shrink

      From the truth they needs must think;

      They are slaves who dare not be

      In the right with two or three.

      —James Russell Lowell.

      

      ———

      TRUST IN GOD AND DO THE RIGHT

      Courage, brother, do not stumble,

      Though thy path be dark as night;

      There's a star to guide the humble—

      Trust in God and do the right.

      Though the road be long and dreary,

      And the end be out of sight;

      Foot it bravely, strong or weary—

      Trust in God and do the right.

      Perish "policy" and cunning,

      Perish all that fears the light;

      Whether losing, whether winning,

      Trust in God and do the right.

      Shun all forms of guilty passion,

      Fiends can look like angels bright;

      Heed no custom, school, or fashion—

      Trust in God and do the right.

      Some will hate thee, some will love thee,

      Some will flatter, some will slight;

      Cease from man and look above thee,

      Trust in God and do the right.

      Simple rule and safest guiding—

      Inward peace and shining light—

      Star upon our path abiding—

      Trust in God and do the Right.

      —Norman Macleod.

      ———

      THE PRESENT CRISIS

      We are living, we are dwelling, in a grand and awful time.

      In an age on ages telling to be living is sublime.

      Hark! the waking up of nations; Gog and Magog to the fray.

      Hark! what soundeth? 'Tis creation groaning for its latter day.

      Will ye play, then, will ye dally, with your music and your wine?

      Up! it is Jehovah's rally; God's own arm hath need of thine;

      Hark! the onset! will ye fold your faith-clad arms in lazy lock?

      Up! O up, thou drowsy soldier! Worlds are charging to the shock.

      Worlds are charging—heaven beholding; thou hast but an hour to fight;

      Now the blazoned cross unfolding, on, right onward for the right!

      On! let all the soul within you for the truth's sake go abroad!

      Strike! let every nerve and sinew tell on ages; tell for God!

      —Arthur Cleveland Coxe.

      ———

      BRAVERY

      We will speak on; we will be heard;

      Though all earth's systems crack,

      We will not bate a single word,

      Nor take a letter back.

      We speak the truth; and what care we

      For hissing and for scorn

      While some faint gleaming we can see

      Of Freedom's coming morn!

      Let liars fear; let cowards shrink;

      Let traitors turn away;

      Whatever we have dared to think,

      That dare we also say.

      —James Russell Lowell.

      ———

      NO ENEMIES

      He has no enemies, you say?

      My friend, your boast is poor;

      He who hath mingled in the fray

      Of duty, that the brave endure,

      Must have made foes. If he has none

      Small is the work that he has done.

      He has hit no traitor on the hip;

      He has cast no cup from tempted lip;

      He has never turned the wrong to right;

      He has been a coward in the fight.

      ———

      One deed may mar a life,

      And one can make it.

      Hold firm thy will for strife,

      Lest a quick blow break it!

      Even now СКАЧАТЬ