Page:In Bohemia (1886).djvu/87

Then came the Christ, the Saviour and the Brother,
With truth and freedom once again the seed;
"Woe to the rich! Do ye to one another
As each desires for self"—man's primal creed.
But, lo! they took the Saviour and they bound him.
And set him in their midst as he were free;
They made His tied hands seal their deeds around Him,
And His dumb lips condemn fair Liberty!

"Then woe!" cried those faint-hearted; "woe for dreaming.
For prayers and hopes and suflferings all in vain!"
Souls despondent at the outward seeming,
Here at the cry, behold the light again!
Here at the cry, the answer and solution:
When strong as Death the cold usurper reigns,
When human right seems doomed to dissolution,
And Hope itself is wrung with mortal pains;
When Christ is harnessed to the landlord's burden;
His truth to make men free a thing of scorn;
God hears the cry, and sends the mystic guerdon,—
Earth thrills and throes—another Queen is born!