Poems of James Clarence Mangan (Many hitherto uncollected): Centenary edition: Edited, with preface and notes by D. J. O'Donoghue: Introduction by John Mitchel |
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 | II. |
THE WARNING VOICE. |
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| VII. |
 | Poems of James Clarence Mangan |  |
THE WARNING VOICE.
Ye Faithful—ye noble!
A day is at hand
Of trial and trouble,
And woe in the land!
O'er a once greenest path,
Now blasted and sterile,
Its dusk shadows loom—
It cometh with Wrath,
With Conflict and Peril,
With Judgment and Doom!
A day is at hand
Of trial and trouble,
And woe in the land!
O'er a once greenest path,
Now blasted and sterile,
Its dusk shadows loom—
It cometh with Wrath,
With Conflict and Peril,
With Judgment and Doom!
False bands shall be broken,
Dead systems shall crumble,
And the haughty shall hear
Truths never yet spoken,
Though smouldering like flame
Through many a lost year
In the hearts of the Humble;
For hope will expire
As the terror draws nigher,
And, with it, the Shame
Which so long overawed
Men's minds by its might—
And the Powers abroad
Will be Panic and Blight,
And phrenetic Sorrow—
Black Pest all the night,
And Death on the morrow!
Dead systems shall crumble,
And the haughty shall hear
Truths never yet spoken,
Though smouldering like flame
Through many a lost year
97
For hope will expire
As the terror draws nigher,
And, with it, the Shame
Which so long overawed
Men's minds by its might—
And the Powers abroad
Will be Panic and Blight,
And phrenetic Sorrow—
Black Pest all the night,
And Death on the morrow!
Now, therefore, ye True,
Gird your loins up anew!
By the good you have wrought?
By all you have thought,
And suffered, and done!
By your souls! I implore you,
Be leal to your mission—
Remembering that one
Of the two paths before you
Slopes down to Perdition!
To you have been given,
Not granaries and gold,
But the Love that lives long,
And waxes not cold;
And the Zeal that has striven
Against Error and Wrong,
And in fragments had riven
The chains of the strong!
Bide now, by your sternest
Conceptions of earnest
Endurance for others,
Your weaker-souled brothers!
Your true faith and worth
Will be History soon,
And their stature stand forth
In the unsparing Noon!
Gird your loins up anew!
By the good you have wrought?
By all you have thought,
And suffered, and done!
By your souls! I implore you,
Be leal to your mission—
Remembering that one
Of the two paths before you
Slopes down to Perdition!
To you have been given,
Not granaries and gold,
But the Love that lives long,
And waxes not cold;
And the Zeal that has striven
Against Error and Wrong,
And in fragments had riven
The chains of the strong!
Bide now, by your sternest
Conceptions of earnest
Endurance for others,
Your weaker-souled brothers!
98
Will be History soon,
And their stature stand forth
In the unsparing Noon!
You have dreamed of an era
Of Knowledge, and Truth,
And Peace—the true glory!
Was this a chimera?
Not so!—but the childhood and youth
Of our days will grow hoary,
Before such a marvel shall burst on their sight!
On you its beams glow not—
For you its flowers blow not,
You cannot rejoice in its light,
But in darkness and suffering instead,
You go down to the place of the Dead!
To this generation
The sore tribulation,
The stormy commotion,
And foam of the Popular Ocean,
The struggle of class against class;
The Dearth and the Sadness,
The Sword and the War-vest;
To the next, the Repose and the Gladness,
“The Sea of clear glass,”
And the rich Golden Harvest.
Of Knowledge, and Truth,
And Peace—the true glory!
Was this a chimera?
Not so!—but the childhood and youth
Of our days will grow hoary,
Before such a marvel shall burst on their sight!
On you its beams glow not—
For you its flowers blow not,
You cannot rejoice in its light,
But in darkness and suffering instead,
You go down to the place of the Dead!
To this generation
The sore tribulation,
The stormy commotion,
And foam of the Popular Ocean,
The struggle of class against class;
The Dearth and the Sadness,
The Sword and the War-vest;
To the next, the Repose and the Gladness,
“The Sea of clear glass,”
And the rich Golden Harvest.
Know, then, your true lot,
Ye faithful, though few!
Understand your position,
Remember your mission,
And vacillate not,
Whatsoever ensue!
Alter not! Falter not!
Palter not now with your own living souls,
When each moment that rolls
May see Death lay his hand
On some new victim's brow!
Oh! let not your vow
Have been written in sand!
Leave cold calculations,
Of Danger and Plague,
To the slaves and the traitors
Who cannot dissemble
The dastard sensations
That now make them tremble
With phantasies vague!—
The men without ruth—
The hypocrite haters
Of Goodness and Truth,
Who at heart curse the race
Of the sun through the skies;
And would look in God's face
With a lie in their eyes!
To the last do your duty,
Still mindful of this—
That Virtue is Beauty,
And Wisdom, and Bliss;
So, howe'er, as frail men, you have erred on
Your way along Life's throngèd road,
Shall your consciences prove a sure guerdon
And tower of defence,
Until Destiny summon you hence
To the Better Abode!
Ye faithful, though few!
Understand your position,
Remember your mission,
And vacillate not,
Whatsoever ensue!
Alter not! Falter not!
99
When each moment that rolls
May see Death lay his hand
On some new victim's brow!
Oh! let not your vow
Have been written in sand!
Leave cold calculations,
Of Danger and Plague,
To the slaves and the traitors
Who cannot dissemble
The dastard sensations
That now make them tremble
With phantasies vague!—
The men without ruth—
The hypocrite haters
Of Goodness and Truth,
Who at heart curse the race
Of the sun through the skies;
And would look in God's face
With a lie in their eyes!
To the last do your duty,
Still mindful of this—
That Virtue is Beauty,
And Wisdom, and Bliss;
So, howe'er, as frail men, you have erred on
Your way along Life's throngèd road,
Shall your consciences prove a sure guerdon
And tower of defence,
Until Destiny summon you hence
To the Better Abode!
| Poems of James Clarence Mangan | |