PERHAPS too far in these considerate days <br />Has patience carried her submissive ways; <br />Wisdom has taught us to be calm and meek, <br />To take one blow, and turn the other cheek; <br />It is not written what a man shall do, <br />If the rude caitiff smite the other too! <br /> <br />Land of our fathers, in thine hour of need <br />God help thee, guarded by the passive creed! <br />As the lone pilgrim trusts to beads and cowl, <br />When through the forest rings the gray wolf's howl; <br />As the deep galleon trusts her gilded prow <br />When the black corsair slants athwart her bow; <br />As the poor pheasant, with his peaceful mien, <br />Trusts to his feathers, shining golden-green, <br />When the dark plumage with the crimson beak <br />Has rustled shadowy from its splintered peak,-- <br />So trust thy friends, whose babbling tongues would charm <br />The lifted sabre from thy foeman's arm, <br />Thy torches ready for the answering peal <br />From bellowing fort and thunder-freighted keel!<br /><br />Oliver Wendell Holmes<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/non-resistance/
