 | Poems by Henry Septimus Sutton |  |
240
THE MAINE LAW-HAMMER.
There's a thing that is done,
Have ye seen? Have ye seen
This horrible thing that is done?
For silver and gold
Destruction is sold
To scores, for the profit of one.
Good creatures of God
Stamp'd down in the clod,
Stamp'd down inch by inch and piecemeal,
Flesh and blood, flesh and blood
Trod down into mud,
And it reddens the drinkseller's heel!
Have ye seen? Have ye seen
This horrible thing that is done?
For silver and gold
Destruction is sold
To scores, for the profit of one.
Good creatures of God
Stamp'd down in the clod,
Stamp'd down inch by inch and piecemeal,
Flesh and blood, flesh and blood
Trod down into mud,
And it reddens the drinkseller's heel!
O to think of it, beat
And broke under his feet!
And still, when his crime we condemn,
Men say, ‘It must be;
No help for it; he
Has an interest vested in them!’
Though even the rod
And the staff of their God,
To be fuel for him, some have sold;
We're forbidden to say,
‘Snatch, snatch them away!’
Lest the publican's fire grow cold!
And broke under his feet!
And still, when his crime we condemn,
Men say, ‘It must be;
No help for it; he
Has an interest vested in them!’
241
And the staff of their God,
To be fuel for him, some have sold;
We're forbidden to say,
‘Snatch, snatch them away!’
Lest the publican's fire grow cold!
Ah! yet there's a word,—
Have ye heard? Have ye heard?
There's a small living thought like a seed;
In good soil it was sown;
To a word it has grown;
Hurrah! it shall grow to a deed!
That deed, like a tree,
Shall luxuriant be;
It shall shelter the world, for it ought;
Oh! it's good, it is grand,
With the knee and the hand,
To pray and to work for that thought!
Have ye heard? Have ye heard?
There's a small living thought like a seed;
In good soil it was sown;
To a word it has grown;
Hurrah! it shall grow to a deed!
That deed, like a tree,
Shall luxuriant be;
It shall shelter the world, for it ought;
Oh! it's good, it is grand,
With the knee and the hand,
To pray and to work for that thought!
We have dared to conceive,
We have dared to believe,—
Ay, bound ourselves fast with a bond,—
Though down to our day
This wrong has had sway,
Not long shall it tarry beyond.
Do ye doubt? Do ye dare
To doubt and despair?
O look to the west, o'er the sea!
What we have begun
They already have done,
And they are but mortals as we.
We have dared to believe,—
Ay, bound ourselves fast with a bond,—
Though down to our day
This wrong has had sway,
Not long shall it tarry beyond.
242
To doubt and despair?
O look to the west, o'er the sea!
What we have begun
They already have done,
And they are but mortals as we.
Again and again,
O brothers! O men!
We have ventured to bruit it about,
That the drinkseller's cask,
His bottle and flask,
Were improved if their bottoms were out!
Already we stand
With hammer in hand,
The mighty law-hammer of Maine,
And devoutly we vow,
God helping us now,
It shall not be lifted in vain.
O brothers! O men!
We have ventured to bruit it about,
That the drinkseller's cask,
His bottle and flask,
Were improved if their bottoms were out!
Already we stand
With hammer in hand,
The mighty law-hammer of Maine,
And devoutly we vow,
God helping us now,
It shall not be lifted in vain.
1854.
| Poems by Henry Septimus Sutton | |