Page:Poems Denver.djvu/328

He had called for help to heaven,
 Trusting the Father's love;
But he sank m the hungry river,
 For no help came from above.

I have read how the Roman soldier,
 When the day was surely lost,
Would die with the harness on him,
 But not desert his post;
I have read how the Christian martyr
 The burning furnace trod,
And smiled at its fiery torture,
 But would not deny his God;

Great was the Roman soldier,
 With his fearless self-control,
And greater the Christian martyr,
 With his constancy of soul;
No story of field or fagot,
 Where courage at sure death smiled,
Has half such power to thrill me,
 As the tale of that martyr-child!