Fugitive Poetry. 1600–1878/Truth Lives on

Truth Lives On.

Through the rugged march of time,Marked with mis'ry, sin, and crime,Error stalks with upreared headO'er her fields of slaughtered dead;But beneath her bloody tread         The Truth lives on.

Warriors strong and brave of yoreDrenched Judea's plains with gore,And the land with war was rife,For his tomb who hated strife,In the teachings of whose life         The Truth lives on.

Progress rolls her car along,Slowly righting human wrong;Might the right may crucify,Nothing can her power defy;Though Herod live and Jesus die,         The Truth lives on.

Burning faggots blazing high,Gibbets tow'ring to the sky,Inquisition's rack and pain,Slavery clanking loud its chain,Falsehood triumphs still in vain;         The Truth lives on.

Underneath this load of wrong,Truth eternal moves along;Every true heart's mighty throeRolls away some human woe;Error reels beneath the blow,         And Truth lives on.