Songs of Love and Rebellion/Rebellion
REBELLION
Rebellion comes, hope's sacred fire,
To Freedom's son from Freedom's sire;
A soul-breath swordsmen cannot kill,
Nor gold, nor cross, nor rifle still.
With Lucifer it marched on God
And broke Jehovah's scourging rod:
It stood with Christ in Pilate's hall
And doomed the Caesars to their fall.
It sent Gautama on his quest,
Him Asia calls her light and blest;
With Quetzalcoatl, long ago,
It stirred the heart of Mexico.
With Moses it for freedom sought;
With wild Mahomet, too, it fought;
It gave Zoroaster all his fame,
Confucius his deathless name.
With Cromwell's legions, grim and cold.
It trampled on the statutes old;
With Voltaire, Marat and St. Just,
It raged 'till Europe rose from dust.
It called Abe Lincoln from the plains,
Set Marx and Ferrer breaking chains,
And hovered o'er the Commune when
It fired the souls of workingmen.
'Tis that which stirs the race today—
'Tis that which makes truth's lightnings play—
'Tis Revolution in its birth—
The soul of Freedom—the light of earth—
REBELLION!