Laughter from a Cloud By Walter Raleigh with a foreword by Hilary Raleigh |
 |
 |
JOHANNESBURG, NEW YEAR, 1896 |
|
 | Laughter from a Cloud |  |
201
JOHANNESBURG, NEW YEAR, 1896
(“Several financiers have applied to the Boer Government
for permission to leave the city.”
—Daily papers, 9th January.)
O alien blood and hearts of mud, who shall mete you the measure due?
Remorse is a man's grim penance, and harrowing shame, but you—
Do they care, your kind? Will ye call to mind that day of the days gone by
When your panic yelp brought men to help, and ye kennelled, and let them die?
Remorse is a man's grim penance, and harrowing shame, but you—
Do they care, your kind? Will ye call to mind that day of the days gone by
When your panic yelp brought men to help, and ye kennelled, and let them die?
Helots of Boers ye have been, their helots ye still shall be,
Their brand on your craven foreheads shall sever you from the free.
Grab, when the till is opened; at the crack of the musket, fly!
Gibber with fear when ye see draw near the death that ye dare not die!
Their brand on your craven foreheads shall sever you from the free.
Grab, when the till is opened; at the crack of the musket, fly!
Gibber with fear when ye see draw near the death that ye dare not die!
202
Live then, and shame the living; live, as the mongrel can,
Safe in the friendly limbo of the scorn of God and man:
Not heaven or earth will judge you, ye must take your cause to try
Where deep in hell your brethren dwell, the worms that cannot die.
Safe in the friendly limbo of the scorn of God and man:
Not heaven or earth will judge you, ye must take your cause to try
Where deep in hell your brethren dwell, the worms that cannot die.
| Laughter from a Cloud | |