Ballads and Lyrical poems :: :: University of Virginia Library

Day unto day utters speech—
Be wise, O ye nations! and hear
What yesterday telleth to-day,
What to-day to the morrow will preach.
A change cometh over our sphere,
And the old goeth down to decay.
A new light hath dawn'd on the darkness of yore,
And men shall be slaves and oppressors no more.

II

Hark to the throbbing of thought,
In the breast of the wakening world:—
Over land, over sea, it hath come.
The serf that was yesterday bought,
To-day his defiance hath hurl'd,
No more in his slavery dumb;
And to-morrow will break from the fetters that bind,
And lift a bold arm for the rights of mankind.

III

Hark to the voice of the time!
The multitude think for themselves,
And weigh their condition, each one.
The drudge has a spirit sublime,
And whether he hammers or delves,
He reads when his labour is done;
And learns, though he groan under penury's ban,
That freedom to think is the birthright of man.

IV

But yesterday thought was confined;
To breathe it was peril or death,
And it sank in the breast where it rose;—
Now, free as the midsummer wind,
It sports its adventurous breath,
And round the wide universe goes;
The mist and the cloud from its pathway are curl'd,
And glimpses of glory illumine the world.

V

The voice of opinion has grown:
'Twas yesterday changeful and weak,
Like the voice of a boy ere his prime;
To-day it has taken the tone
Of an orator worthy to speak,
Who knows the demands of the time;
And to-morrow 'twill sound in Oppression's cold ear
Like the trump of the seraph to startle our sphere.

VI

Be wise, O ye rulers of earth!
And shut not your ears to the voice,
Nor allow it to warn you in vain;
True freedom, of yesterday's birth,
Will march on its way and rejoice,
And never be conquer'd again.
The day has a tongue—ay, the hours utter speech—
Wise, wise will ye be, if ye learn what they teach!