Men and boys, O fathers, brothers, <br />Burst these fetters round you bound. <br />Women, sisters, wives and mothers, <br />Lift your faces from the ground! <br />O Democracy, O People, <br />East and West and North and South, <br />Rise together, one for ever, <br />Strike this Crime upon the mouth! <br />Bid them not, the men who loved you, <br />Those who fought for you and died, <br />Scorn you that you broke a small Crime, <br />Left a great Crime pass in pride! <br />England, France, the played-out countries, <br />Let them reek there in their stew, <br />Let their past rot out their present, <br />But the Future is with you! <br />O America, O first-born <br />Of the age that yet shall be <br />Where all men shall be as one man, <br />Noble, faithful, fearless, free! — <br />O America, O paramour <br />Of the foul slave-owner Pelf, <br />You who saved from slavery others, <br />Now from slavery save yourself! — <br />Save yourself, though, anguish-shaken, <br />You cry out and bow your head, <br />Crying 'Why am I forsaken?' <br />Crying 'It is finishèd!' <br />Save yourself, no God will save you; <br />Not one angel can he give! <br />They and He are dead and vanished, <br />And 'tis you, 'tis you must live! <br />Risen again, fire-tried, victorious, <br />From the grave of Crime down-hurled, <br />Peerless, pure, serene and glorious, <br />Wield the sceptre of the world!<br /><br />Francis William Lauderdale Adams<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-answer-36/
