Page:Poems Elgee, 1907.djvu/38

V.
Grief for the idiot people,
 Who, with suicidal hand,
Strive to the bind the fetters closer
 On their prostrate, bleeding land.
But a silver cord of gladness
 Is inwoven in the gloom—
Through the midnight of our sadness,
 Brightest stars from heaven loom.

VI.
Morning comes when night is darkest,
 Near to evil good will spring,
As the Indian serpent resteth
 On the leaf that heals its sting.
Braver spirits will enkindle,
 To redeem our abject race;
Noble hearts will beat yet nobler,
 To retrieve our past disgrace.

VII.
Brighter still, and brighter shining,
 Seems the glory of the few,
Who, in face of earth and heaven,
 Swear to God they dare be true.
Let the masses pass on scorning,
 Seek not courage in their mind;
Self-devotion, patriot fervour,
 Spring not from the craven kind.

VIII.
Abject tears, and prayers submissive—
 Have they eyes, and cannot see?
Never country gained her freedom
 When she sued on bended knee.
Be our Leaders, then, still daring,
 Bold in word, and brave in fight;
And when comes the day of trial,
 Then, may God defend the Right!