Poems (Blake)/Victory

by Mary Elizabeth Blake

For works with similar titles, see Victory.

VICTORY!

Flash the news, exultant wire,
 Send it throbbing through the land!
Blaze it like an altar-fire,
 Consecrating heart and hand;
Ring it over streets and lanes,
 Fling it full on land and sea,
Shout on all our hills and plains,
         Victory!

Dearly bought? Nay, never fear!
 Right is right, whate'er it cost;
He who sees both blood and tear
 Will not count His heroes lost.
What is life when honor dies,—
 What is death when souls are free,—
Which is writ in Heaven's eyes
         Victory?

If perchance some note of pain,
 Sad as sorrow, sweet and low,
Falls like fall of weeping rain,
 For vanished friend and vanished foe,
Though your hopes lie cold and pale,
 God's great heart can hear and see,
High above that broken wail,
         Victory!

Then flash on exultant wires,
 Send it thrilling through the land!
Blaze it high as altar-fires,
 Consecrating heart and hand;
God is near us in the strife,
 And whate'er the end may be,
He can make or death or life
         Victory!