 | The Poetical Works of Walter C. Smith |  |
254
HOW WE DID IT
Erewhile our forefathers, hating oppression,
Sware a great oath that their blood they would spill,
New-hefted scythe, issued plea and Confession,
Scoured the old musket, and took to the hill.
Sware a great oath that their blood they would spill,
New-hefted scythe, issued plea and Confession,
Scoured the old musket, and took to the hill.
Loomed in the front of them scaffold and halter,
Hunger and weariness, battle and death,
Only the mists of the mountain for shelter,
Only the raven to watch their last breath.
Hunger and weariness, battle and death,
Only the mists of the mountain for shelter,
Only the raven to watch their last breath.
Times were heroic then; e'en the slow peasant
Felt his heart swell 'mid the trumpets and spears;
And if our commonplace way is more pleasant,
Yet we have lost the great soul of those years.
Felt his heart swell 'mid the trumpets and spears;
And if our commonplace way is more pleasant,
Yet we have lost the great soul of those years.
We held monster-meetings, signed tons of petitions,
And snowed all the country with leaflets and tracts,
Setting forth all our desires and conditions,
And bristling with arguments, figures, and facts.
And snowed all the country with leaflets and tracts,
Setting forth all our desires and conditions,
And bristling with arguments, figures, and facts.
With weekly pennies, and working committees,
And secretaries, and printing large,
We knit together the towns and cities,
And rallied the battle, and made our charge.
And secretaries, and printing large,
We knit together the towns and cities,
And rallied the battle, and made our charge.
Heroes we were not; they were not wanted;
Power now must yield what the people demand;
But sometimes I laughed as our doings we vaunted,
The work was so common, the words were so grand.
Power now must yield what the people demand;
But sometimes I laughed as our doings we vaunted,
The work was so common, the words were so grand.
Yet what have the ages been slowly achieving,
By slings, bows and arrows, and muskets and swords,
But just that we now should be peacefully weaving
Far mightier spells by the virtue of words?
By slings, bows and arrows, and muskets and swords,
But just that we now should be peacefully weaving
Far mightier spells by the virtue of words?
| The Poetical Works of Walter C. Smith | |