Page:Poems Barrett.djvu/244

Do ye hear the children weeping and disproving,
    O my brothers, what ye preach?
For God's possible is taught by His world's loving—
    And the children doubt of each.

And well may the children weep before you;
    They are weary ere they run;
They have never seen the sunshine, nor the glory
    Which is brighter than the sun:
They know the grief of men, but not the wisdom;
 They sink in the despair, without the calm—
Are slaves, without the liberty in Christdom,—
 Are martyrs, by the pang without the palm,—
Are worn, as if with age, yet unretrievingly
    No dear remembrance keep,—
Are orphans of the earthly love and heavenly:
    Let them weep! let them weep!

They look up, with their pale and sunken faces,
    And their look is dread to see,
For you think you see their angels in their places,
    With eyes meant for Deity;—
"How long," they say, "how long, O cruel nation,
 Will you stand, to move the world, on a child's heart,—
Stifle down with a mailed heel its palpitation,
 And tread onward to your throne amid the mart?
Our blood splashes upward, O our tyrants,
    And your purple shews your path;
But the child's sob curseth deeper in the silence
    Than the strong man in his wrath!"