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287
SONNET ON THE AMERICAN WAR.
[Triumph not, fools! and weep not, ye faint-hearted!]
Triumph not, fools! and weep not, ye faint-hearted!Have ye believed that the supreme decree
Of Heaven had given this people o'er to perish?
Have ye believed that God had ceased to cherish
This great New World of Christian liberty,
And its fair light for ever hath departed?
Nay, by the precious blood shed to redeem
The nation from its selfishness and sin;
By each brave heart that burst in holy strife,
Leaving its kindred hearts to break through life;
By all the bitter tears, whose source must stream
For ever every desolate home within;
We will return to our appointed place,
First, in the vanguard of the human race.
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