FORWARD!
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II. And one battle-cry resoundeth Prom your ranks, success presaging; And one heart within you boundeth With a martyr's faith, engagingEach to bind upon his forehead cypress wreath or laurel crown.
III. For a power without you urges That can brook no more delaying, And the heaving myriad surges, To and fro in tumult swaying,Threaten death to all who vainly would oppose them in their might.
IV. Thrilling words, that burn like fire, Ye have preached to hut and hovel, Till they leap up in their ire From the death-dust where they grovel,These men of many sufferings, to die or win their right.
V. Pass the word that bands together— Word of mystic conjuration— And, as fire consumes the heather, So the young hearts of the nationFierce will blaze up, quick and scathing, 'gainst the stranger and the foe.
VI. Hand to hand with them confronted, Looking death and danger gravely In the face, with brow undaunted; Doing nobly, dying bravely,Stern as men resolved to conquer or to perish in their woe.
VII. For the God-breath speaketh in you, Dare ye not belie your mission;
