Poems (Crandall)/Peace on Earth
For works with similar titles, see Peace on Earth.
Peace on Earth
We have read the beautiful story
Of the shepherds and angels of light;
But where shall the harassed souls of men
Find peace upon earth tonight?
Of the shepherds and angels of light;
But where shall the harassed souls of men
Find peace upon earth tonight?
In Russia, suffering Russia,
Where a maddened peasant throng
Is striving against the ruling powers,
To right oppression's wrong?
Where a maddened peasant throng
Is striving against the ruling powers,
To right oppression's wrong?
Where tyrants cower and tremble
As the people's arm grows strong?
Do you think the Czar or the howling mob
Heed the herald angels' song?
As the people's arm grows strong?
Do you think the Czar or the howling mob
Heed the herald angels' song?
In England, that grand old country,
Where starving humans cry
From the great and rich metroplis
For work, lest their loved ones die?
Where starving humans cry
From the great and rich metroplis
For work, lest their loved ones die?
Eight hundred thousand waiting
For food or for death's release;
Think you this starving multitude
In their garrets and cellars find peace?
For food or for death's release;
Think you this starving multitude
In their garrets and cellars find peace?
And what of fair Columbia,
The honored land of our birth,
Does she prize the gracious gift from Heaven
Of peace and good will upon earth?
The honored land of our birth,
Does she prize the gracious gift from Heaven
Of peace and good will upon earth?
We crowd and we trample each other,
God's gift we have thrown away;
What fools—what base ingratitude;
But—'tis dollars or death today.
God's gift we have thrown away;
What fools—what base ingratitude;
But—'tis dollars or death today.
Is there peace in the home of the drunkard?
Sweet peace in the prison cell,
Where a man with a youthful haggard face
Is waiting to hear death's knell?
Sweet peace in the prison cell,
Where a man with a youthful haggard face
Is waiting to hear death's knell?
He remembers nothing, they tell him
He murdered his child and his wife.
We sold him the drink that made him a brute
And now make him forfeit his life.
He murdered his child and his wife.
We sold him the drink that made him a brute
And now make him forfeit his life.
If the angels that sang in Judea
To herald our Savior and King,
Are singing to night that wonderful song;
Methinks they must weep as they sing.
To herald our Savior and King,
Are singing to night that wonderful song;
Methinks they must weep as they sing.
Christmas 1895