God, give us men!

GOD, give us men! A time like this demands

Strong minds, great hearts, true faith and ready hands;

Men whom the lust of office does not kill;

Men whom the spoils of office can not buy;

Men who possess opinions and a will;

Men who have honor; men who will not lie;

Men who can stand before a demagogue

And damn his treacherous flatteries without winking!

Tall men, sun-crowned, who live above the fog

In public duty, and in private thinking;

For while the rabble, with their thumb-worn creeds,

Their large professions and their little deeds,

Mingle in selfish strife, lo! Freedom weeps,

Wrong rules the land and waiting Justice sleeps.

Josiah Gilbert Holland

A Song of Doubt

THE day is quenched, and the sun is fled;

God has forgotten the world!

The moon is gone, and the stars are dead;

God has forgotten the world!

Evil has won in the horrid feud

Of ages with The Throne;

Evil stands on the neck of Good,

And rules the world alone.

There is no good; there is no God;

And Faith is a heartless cheat

Who bares the back for the Devil's rod

And scatters thorns for the feet.

What are prayers in the lips of death

Filling and chilling with hail?

What are prayers but wasted breath

Beaten back by the gale?

The day is quenched, and the sun is fled;

God has forgotten the world!

The moon is gone, and the stars are dead;

God has forgotten the world!

Josiah Gilbert Holland

A Song of Faith

DAY will return with a fresher boon;

God will remember the world!

Night will come with a newer moon;

God will remember the world!

Evil is only the slave of Good;

Sorrow the servant of Joy;

And the soul is mad that refuses food

Of the meanest in God's employ.

The fountain of joy is fed by tears,

And love is lit by the breath of sighs;

The deepest griefs and the wildest fears

Have holiest ministries.

Strong grows the oak in the sweeping storm;

Safely the flower sleeps under the snow;

And the farmer's hearth is never warm

Till the cold wind starts to blow.

Day will return with a fresher boon;

God will remember the world!

Night will come with a newer moon;

God will remember the world!

Josiah Gilbert Holland