To 'Holy' Russia

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To 'Holy' Russia (1920)
by Claude McKay

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First published in Workers' Dreadnought , 28 February 1920

2651671To 'Holy' Russia1920Claude McKay

To 'Holy' Russia

Long struggling under the Imperial heel,
Some dared not see the white flame of your star
Dimmed by the loathsome shadow of your Tsar.
But men who clung to sacred dreams could feel
Some day you would put forth your arm of steel
And drag the mannikins from near and far,
Before the mighty people's judgment bar,
To answer for the ruined commonweal . . . .
Down from their high, dishonoured place you hurled
The cowed, incompetent, corrupted few;
The blood-bathed flag of a new life unfurled,
Revealed your soul to Slav and Jew:
The eyes of the too-long submissive world,
Lifted in golden hope, are turned to you!

This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published before January 1, 1929.

The longest-living author of this work died in 1948, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 75 years or less. This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works.

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