The Complete Poetical Works of Robert Buchanan In Two Volumes. With a Portrait |
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 | The Complete Poetical Works of Robert Buchanan |  |
‘PATRIOTISM.’
‘Throughout all this period of Titanic
struggle, patriotism was the most potent factor
in the contest, and ultimately decided the issue.
Animated by patriotism, which gave to her armies
a superhuman strength, France was able to
confound all the efforts of her enemies. Then,
ignoring in all other nations a love of independence
and freedom as strenuous as her own, she
at last created and evoked in them this all-powerful
sentiment, and was in the end driven
back to her frontiers by an exhibition of the same
spirit as that which had enabled her to defend
them. . . . The fact is, that a vague attachment
to the whole human race is a poor substitute for
the performance of the duties of a citizen; and
professions of universal philanthropy afford no
excuse for neglecting the interests of one's own
country.’—
Joseph Chamberlain, in Glasgow.
I
Judas to Caiaphas,The Elders, and the Priests:
‘I, heir of him who sold the Man
Whose voice disturb'd your feasts,
My thirty pieces duly gained,
The Cross and Sword upraise,
And claim, for triumph thus attained,
The Patriot's palm and bays!
II
‘Who is the Patriot? HeWho, swift and keen to slay,
Spieth the helpless quarry out
For home-bred birds of prey;
Who heeds not hearts that ache and break,
But peers from sea to sea,
And ever, for his Country's sake,
Points Christ to Calvary!
III
‘The black Christs and the white,Lo, how they shriek and die,
While the great conquering Flag floats on
And merry hosts go by!
I price in our imperial Mart
Their land, their gold, their lives—
Ho, Priests, who heeds the broken heart,
So that the Market thrives?
IV
‘Who is the Patriot? HeWho strideth, sword in hand,
To reap the fields he never sowed,
For his own Fatherland!
Who, sweeping human rights aside,
Sets up the cross-shaped Tree,
And while the Christ is crucified,
Bids all the Thieves go free!
V
‘This for a sign I speak—Heed it and understand—
Who loves his neighbour as himself
Loves, too, his neighbour's land!
His neighbour's land, his wives, his gold,
All the good thief may seize,
And he's a Patriot twentyfold
Who garners all of these!
VI
‘All, for his Country's sake,His God, his Lord, his Home,
Ev'n so the Roman stalk'd abroad
And claimed the world for Rome,
Ev'n so the patriot Nations still
In emulation toil,
Confront each other, shrieking shrill,
And hungering for the spoil!
VII
‘Remember how the Patriot's fireSwept Europe west to east,
While on its trail devouring ran
The many-headed Beast;
Till dawn'd at last the glorious morn
When all the Earth was priced
By Patriotism's latest-born,
The Imperial Antichrist!
330
VII
‘Hark! still the Patriot's cryYonder in France is heard—
She slew her Kings, she found for men
The blood-compelling Word:
Arm'd to the teeth still croucheth she,
Waketh, and sleepeth not—
“Allons, enfants de la Patrie—
To cut our neighbour's throat!”
IX
‘Lo, how the same grand dreamOf God and Fatherland
Fills the brave Teuton's warrior-soul
And arms his mailed hand;
Beast-like for battle he prepares,
Bow'd down with helm and glaive,—
How proudly he, the Patriot, wears
The livery of the Slave!’
X
Judas to Caiaphas,The Elders, and the Priests:
‘I, heir of him who sold the Man
Whose voice disturb'd your feasts,
Bid ye, my brethren of the Blood,
March on from sea to sea,
Nor heed, 'mid Conquest's roaring flood,
The cries from Calvary!
XI
‘Patriots ye were and are,Yours is the Patriot's crown;
The Patriot is the strong man, he
Who strikes the weak man down!
Onward with Cross and Sword, still race
With all the world for prey,—
I price, in this your market-place,
The robes of Him ye slay!’
| The Complete Poetical Works of Robert Buchanan | |