Gerald Massey

It Will End in the Right

NEVER despair! O, my Brother in sorrow!
    I know that our mourning is ended not. Yet,
Shall the vanquisht to-day be the victors to-morrow,
    Our Star shall shine on when the Tyrant's sun's set.
Hold on! tho' they spurn thee, for whom thou art living
    A life only cheer'd by the lamp of its love:
Hold on! Freedom's hope to the bounden ones giving:
    Green spots in the waste wait the worn spirit-dove;
Hold on, —still hold on,—in the world's despite,
Nurse the faith in thy heart, keep the lamp of God bright,
And, my life for thine! it shall end in the Right.

What, tho' the Martyrs and Prophets have perisht?
    The Angel of Life rolls the stone from their graves:
Immortal's the love, and the freedom they cherisht,
    Their Faith's Triumph-cry stirs the spirits of slaves!
They are gone,—but a Glory is left in our life,
    Like the day-god's last kiss on the darkness of Even—
Gone down on the desolate seas of their strife,
    To climb as star-beacons up Liberty's heaven.
Hold on,—still hold on,—in the world's despite,
Nurse the faith in thy heart, keep the lamp of God bright,
And, my life for thine! it shall end in the Right.

Think of the Wrongs that have ground us for ages,
    Think of the Wrongs we have still to endure!
Think of our blood red on History's pages;
    Then work, that our reck'ning be speedy and sure.
Slaves, cry unto God! but be our God reveal'd
    In our lives, in our works, in our warfare for man;
And bearing —or borne upon—Victory's shield,
    Let us fight battle-harness'd, and fall in the van.
Hold on,—still hold on, —in the world's despite,
Nurse the faith in thy heart, keep the lamp of God bright,
And, my life for thine! it shall end in the Right.