PS 3-5/5 \9n HYMN OF FREE PEOPLES TRIUMPHANT HERMANN HAGEDORN Class r 6 3 5/'^ Book >/[?..3 H^ cop>TigtitN°_ji?i5:L COPWUGHT DEPOSrr. By Hermann Hagedorn Barbara Picks a Husband Faces In The Dawn Makers of Madness The Great Maze — The Heart of Youth Where Do You Stand? You Are The Hope of The World HYMN OF FREE PEOPLES TRIUMPHANT f^;^^ THE MACMILLAN COMPANY HEW YORK • BOSTON • CHICAGO • DALLAS ATLANTA • SAN FRANCISCO MACMILLAN & CO., Limited LONDON • BOMBAY • CALCUTTA MELBOURNE THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, Lttx TORONTO HYMN OF FREE PEOPLES TRIUMPHANT BY HERMANN HAGEDORN NEW YORK THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 1918 All Rights Reserved COPYRIGHT, I918, BY THE OUTLOOK COMPANY COPYRIGHT I918 BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY SET UP AND PRINTED PUBLISHED 1918 ^ OEC -6!9!8 ©CJ.A5()8402 The author is indebted to the editors of The Outlook for permission to reprint these verses, which originally appeared in their columns. HYMN OF FREE PEOPLES TRIUMPHANT Knowest thou not this of old, since man was placed upon the earth. That the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment? Though his excellency mount up to the heavens, and his head reach unto the clouds; Yet he shall perish forever like his own dung: they which have seen him shall say, Where is he? He shall fly away as a dream, and shall not he found: yea, he shall be chased away as a vision of the night. I would seek unto God, and unto God would I commit my cause — Book of Job HYMN OF FREE PEOPLES TRIUMPHANT Out of the depths of defeat, thou hast raised us, O God! Our enemies came upon'ius, like thieves they came. Like waters that burst the sluice, like a down-storming flood. Like fire on the hills, flaunting to heaven the flame; Out of the north like the invincible sea Pounding with breaker on pitiless breaker the shore; [13] HYMN Out of the night like a ravisher stealthily Tiptoeing up the stair to an unlocked door — They crept, they came, they poured, they thundered, they beat. We fell before them, Hke mowed grass we went down. They smote us, they slew us, they tram- pled us under their feet; They stretched out their greedy hands; to the coveted crown They stretched out their terrible arms, bristling and vast. [141 HYMN And thou wert with us. They stormed. And we stood fast. Out of the arms of the grave, thou hast drawn us, O Lord! We cried: "We will strike him here where his heart lies bare. He called for the sword, now shall he die by the sword! Dreamer of dreams forbidden, we come, beware!" We came, we struck, we harried, we plunged on. But the monster opened his arms, he opened them wide. [iSl HYMN And in bogs and glades by craft were we undone, And he drew us close in his terrible arms, and we died. And he smote us again; in the lowlands, seeking the sea, By the dunes and the dikes, charging, he came in his pride! And we called the fetterless ocean to strike for the free. We called our brother the sea to fight at our side! [i6] HYMN And the deep sea covered the fields as men cover the dead. And the foe came on through the waters and floundered and fell; And again he came on, singing, with Hfted head. And sank; and again he came on through the terrible Waters of death, and we met him, and hand to hand Fought in the ruins of homes; in the storm and the cold We2 grappled, we thrust, we stabbed through that wild lost land; [17] HYMN And "Calais!" he cried, and "Calais!" the echo rolled. To the ruins and blood-red waters came quiet at last. For thou wert with us. He faltered. But we stood fast. Out of the Valley of Death, Lord, thou hast led us! By the sea we lay panting with burning eyes; By the dunes, by the flooded fields, where the wind fed us Despair, and day was blacker with sur- mise :i8] HYMN Than ever night with storms, we crouched; but lo, On the plains afar, on the brown fields, facing the west, Not of dismay and imminent overthrow. Through the day, through the dark, we made a spectral guest; God, how we came with banners! With drums, we came! Flashing the sun back, sparkling, we came on! Our enemy fled. Down the gray gorge of shame He drew away as the dark draws away from the dawn. [19] HYMN We cried, "Now, he is ours!" but lo, in the north. Like a new spear flashing, he sprang; again; again! And back and forth we lunged; and back and forth Like wrestlers with bloodshot eyes who heave and strain At the abyss's edge, we tossed panting; we sprang back; Grappled, recoiled; grappled again; lay still; Arms locked, eye to red eye demoniac; Limbs lax; astir only the invincible will. [20] HYMN And again by the white peaks, bugles and victory-laughter, Legions of marching men, files without end! Death on the winding roads; slaughter, and triumph after! Biting winds on the passes and April after Where the winding roads descend. God, how we came with banners! God, how they fled. Crag to crag, leaping, stricken, down the gray slopes! 21] HYMN We crashed upon them like waters bursting their bed, Like churning waters, whirling away their hopes. "At last! At last! Now is the end!'' we cried. But our enemy thrust from the dark; terribly he thrust. And we melted like snow from the gay, green mountain-side; To the icy passes we fled like windblown dust. And the foe plunged and came on; with thunder and flame He cut him a highway and paved it with bones and blood; 22 HYMN Of eyes and palpitant hearts that knew thy name, God, and knew love and beauty and fatherhood, An instrument to batter a bastion low He fashioned him there, God; and smote us. Dear Lord, Who knowest all things, this also thou dost know; Not lightly there we yielded to thy abhorred. He lunged, he trampled, he plunged; he swept us aside. [23] HYMN We died, we rose from the dead, we died, we died. Godf in the V alley y in the silvery canyon of Death, Thou gavest our lips water and our lungs breath; Thou gavest our eyes sweet pictures to gaze upon; Thou gavest our hearts sweet love to feed upon; Thou gavest our spirits music of thine own making. Of daylight breaking, [24] HYMN And slumbering birds and slumbering worlds awaking. Thou gavest our spirits food to eat. Bread and apples, honey and meat, And hands to clasp and fields to sow And children to fondle, as long ago. Thou art home-fires to them who gave and are done with giving. But a ring of ten thousand chariots thou art to the living! God, in disaster thou hast been near to us. We cried, "We will strike our foe by land and by sea; 2S] HYMN In the narrow way, by the strait gate perilous, Where the black heart blasphemous Camps and breaks bread with our Lord's black enemy, We will make us a road; to his throat we will carve us a way!" Over the sea, over the wine-dark sea, From the ends of the earth with singing and banter gay For the love of a ravished bride, sweet Liberty, [26] HYMN We came; and round us were spectres of dazzling ships; And above us the charging and clashing of clamorous ghosts; And before us the deathless magic of Helen's lips And the deep voice of Agamemnon call- ing his hosts. Lemnos gave greeting, Samothrace a cheer, And the ashes of Ihum sang as we drew near. [27] HYMN Lord God, thou knowest that we were glad to die. Our strength, our hope, our vision of far, loved faces. Of sweet years hand in hand and eye in eye. And children and friends, old paths and familiar places. Lord, these were all we had to give; we gave them; Throwing away our dreams that we might save them. [28] HYMN We died in the sea, we died in the snares of the beaches; We died in the daffodils, when their cups were red; We died amid wails and singing and mad- men's screeches And crawHng fire and under the piled-up dead. We landed, we stormed, we stabbed, we pressed on, we prevailed; We hungered, we thirsted, we burned, we fell back, we failed. [29] HYMN God, in black days thou hast kept true to us! Our enemy laughed; he said, "They are babes at war. What are they, to match their swords presumptuous With the sword of a conqueror?" And he gathered his legions and smote us where we were weak. With treachery and a sword, with guile and a blow. He fell on our fields like winter and left them bleak. He came on our cities like Judgment and trampled them low. [30] HYMN We Stood, we fought; by the river, black with his coming, For a high price, we sold each drop of freemen's blood! But our foe came on with his hordes and his vultures humming; Like a glacier, darkly, like a slow-rising flood. Like a plague of locusts that leaves the green fields brown. He came; we fought in the valley, we poured death from the heights; [31] HYMN We defied the tide; the thunder we thund- ered down. But he came as the dark comes, putting out the Hght; He came as death comes, putting dreams to flight. And we fled to the mountains, we fled with our loves in our arms; Starving and bleeding, we staggered, with Terror behind Flaring to heaven, and around us the whirling storms And the snow on our loved ones lost and the pitiless wind. [32] HYMN But our foe cried, "Fools! that die for a phantom-light! Shatter your hearts , if you must . I stand . I am Might!" [33] HYMN II God, in defeat, in the deluge of black de- feat Thou blewest upon our courage and kept it burning. Thou wast a light along the blackened street; By empty chairs a promise of returning. Thou wast the sword of Liberty, agonizing, Thou wast the still small voice in the battle's din: **The wicked are caught in the snares of their own devising. Faint not, fight on. Only the just shall win!" [34] HYMN Thou knowest, Lord, we fought and fainted not. We suffered all things, hunger and cold and pain. Death with the huddled dead, and death, forgot In some lost crater alone with the dark and the rain; Fever and endless obeying and digging and carrying And slaughter and evil winds and gather- ing and burying. We bore them all, for something, dim- discerned. [35] HYMN That in our hearts like white auroras burned. And our enemy ravaged our fields and ravished our treasures, And he made our maidens and golden boys his slaves; And he slaughtered our babes and took our wives for his pleasures, And was king by the grace of volleys and open graves. And he sent his vultures scattering death at whim. [36] HYMN And his demon-ships to gather glory for him; And the spirits of earth and air came at his nod And blew green poisons to put out the eyes of God. Under the beak of black hours ravenous, God of free peoples. Thou hast been true to us! [37] HYMN III And again our enemy gathered his legions, and struck. With flashing of myriad thunders, crash- ing, he came on. And the walls of our stronghold shuddered and heaved and shook. And the solid earth churned as the sea in the muddy dawn; And plunging out of the dark as the waves of the sea, Breaker on breaker, he charged the hills of the free. [38] HYMN And the waves came, broke and ebbed, and other waves came. Up from the infinite deep, up the wild shore They cHmbed, they broke in a crackle of fierce flame; They surged, they shuddered, they crumbled, they were no more. And out of the wallowing ground like the dead, emerging. Through the fog and the snow the gray- green waves came surging. [39] H Y M N And our bodies grew faint with slaying, our eyes grew dim, And our strong walls sprang in the air and fell and were dust; And nearer and nearer the hills' shot-shat- tered rim The seething deep his terrible fingers thrust. And giddy and sick we faced the charging mass. "They shall not pass, dear God! They shall not pass." [40] H Y M N Tr'.rr.d of the free, zvhen mans zee ok bar- riers fall, Thou art a wall, great Lord, thou art a zuall! And we struck our enemy, struck to east and to west. Struck on the sea, struck in the huddled town. The darkness we gave no sleep, the silence no rest. Pity no bed to la}- her weariness down. And the battle boiled and seethed and bub- bled and fell [411 HYMN In the rocking cauldron over the coals of hell; And the breath of a hundred valleys went out in thunder, And a thousand villages crumbled and were stamped under; And the strong were afraid and the weak met death with a shout; And gods, like an empty lamp, sputtered and went out; And shapes rose out of graves and dragged at kings; And hands in the dark broke the bright bubbles of kings; [42] HYMN And loud and wild on the uttermost crags and coasts Ebbed and flowed the supplications of ghosts. And hate the sower was choked by a world of haters; And monstrous offspring sprang on their own creators; And high seats toppled and proud kings begged for bread; And golden banners flared to the dawn, blood-red; And nations died and nations rose from the dead. [43] HYMN And once more our enemy flung forth his legions; once more With thundering mouths and drums and clattering swords And mad-eyed Terror with torches running before, He came, he came with his hordes! And he beat against us; with iron hands from our heights He hurtled us down; from our valleys on waves of blood, [44] HYMN Terribly on, through the days and the red nights He swept us like a flood. And the snake in the covert hissed, "Break and flee!" And the jackal barked in the dark, "He hangs at your throat!" But thy children lifted their heads, re- membering thee, And stood, and turned, and smote! Lord God of high heaven, sword and shield of the free! [45] HYMN Splendor, defender of light and liberty! Arms to the weak of arm, eyes to the dim of eye. Comfort and confidence to them that go to die! Confounder of tyranny, smiter of perfidy, Uplifter of burdens fallen on the way to thee! Breaker of snares, blunter of swords. Terror and turner of infidel hordes, Pursuer of the foes of light, harrier of the unjust, Trampler of the rebelHous with hoofs in the dust! [46] HYMN Driver with whips, driver with scorpions, Driver with thunders, terribler than guns, Dropper of bursting fire on the hearts of the proud, Blower of biting death on the hopes of the haughty-browed — Our enemy is shattered. Our enemy is flown! His charging hosts are scattered, His towers are overthrown! His trumpets trumpet vainly To stay the last retreat. The monstrous beast ungainly Lies at thy conquering feet! [47I HYMN Redeemer of nations, burster of prison- gates; Lifter from broken hearts of chains and weights; Feeder of famished hearts, joiner of hands, Returner of exiles from aUen strands; Bringer of morning, bringer of air, Kindler of laughter in ashes of despair! — Preserver! Glorious! From the hills and the crashing sea, Thy freemen, victorious, Jubilantly run to Thee! Not with shouting and singing, - Exultant trumpet or drum, [48] HYMN But with hearts like church-bells ring- ing, Conqueror, we come! Devouring fire, invincible light! Builder of dawn on the ruins of night! Builder with music of the crystal halls of day, God, we are Thine! Command and we obey! [49] LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 015 937 218 2 0^ m