- : .MM-M.M r mWM-WW P^- *> B*^ 1^^ 1^" p- iriifW' «:..M »t If 3C Jf |# |i' |i' M-|,f irif -| i ^ For Groping Thralls, A Shield! A SUPPLEMENT TO Freedom's Factor, Hail! PUBLISHED BY THE UNITED IRISHMAN, 12 Chambers Street, New York. 1885. Copyright, 1885, by The Author. Ailrights reserved. For Groping Thralls, A Shield! I. While timid hearts, and false, still bend To hollow custom's quest, O'er shadowing cries, from Serfs, that rend Life's pulse — from East to West — From Pole to Pole — and clamor on, For bait — from Princes' crust, Who, first, shall gird Truth's armor on And bid Crowns bite the dust ! 32 FOR GROPING THRALLS, A SHIELD! 11. When rife, our soil, with Spoiler's zest For luxury drones have spread — Of which earth's lordlings spawn the nest And millions gild the bed, Who Wakes the cLx\rion of protest From men who will not crawl — Who will not bend Proud Virtue s crest Or thrive by Honor s fall ! III. When Harlequins their antics fling, And joust, in Hall of State, 'Till it doth seem a Circus-ring — Where Clowns may lose the fate FOR GROPING THRALLS, A SHIELD! S3 Of careless Freemen to the rasp Of a Rapacious Few, — Who warns lest shackles fix their GRASP, So FIRE MUST FORCE : UNDO ! IV. When Altars, Forums, Press unite The wall of Truth to hide — To varnish monuments that light Sweet Freedom's matricide — The growth of tyranny to vail, Tho' trellised in mid-air And grating earth — by wire and rail, Who ventures : Slaves, Beware ! 34 FOR GROPING THRALLS, A SHIELD! V. A free state's danger ever grew From concentrating gain — Incorporating with a few The powers should appertain To ev'ry man — of right belong To all men born and bred Upon our soil, first hymned the song: A Crown for Ev'ry Head ! VI. Awake ! Bold Patrick Hc7iry 's Htie For ''Liberty, or Death" — Whilst British bayonets imbrue, With blood, Egyptian heath — - FOR GROPING THRALLS, A SHIELD! 35 Hold India's realm — thrall Irish sod — And Afric's wilds engleam With their investment, for the Rod Shall make their sway supreme I VII. Awake ! Brave Koscitiskds voice, When crypted Russia wails, With smothered moan — and Czars rejoice That tired Nature quails — And Kaisers weld a Triparte Bond, Whereby perpetuate. Their reigns — through wretched years — beyond Foiled hopes sad estimate ! :^6 FOR GROPING THRALLS, A SHIELD! VIII. Arise ! Bright Sun of Washington / Dawn thou I C Conneir s star I No LONGER SLEEP, Lloyd Garrisou I Speak, Thomas Francis Meagher I — H AIL ! Byron s spirit, gloomed in shade / Thine ! Emmet fs — m^atchless, true I Rouse you ! Earth's heroes eer drew blades ! — Here, Manhood waneth too ! IX. Aye ! Here — where Freedom dared recite Its cradle-melody Of the inalienable right Of KVA. to Liberty FOR GROPING THRALLS, A SHIELD! 37 And life, and happmess — a Creed Degenerate expands : Its ritual — spawned of unchecked greed — Golds Sovereignty Demands I X. Doth, then, no Meteor gleam the sky — No Echo throb the world Responsive to the anxious cry For Champions have unfurled Their banner in the front of crown, Or eloquently sprung Staunch hearts, with ire, the Cause to drown That Freedom's Stipend wrung ! 38 FOR GROPING THRALLS, A SHIELD! XI. . There delve, thank God — A Privileged Few Unsignalized by Caste — Un-knighted by their arteries' hue, L/n-sheened by gold or brass, Who soar above the paltry knaves That ebb and flow the tide, And boldly stem the frowning waves Might else Mans doom decide. XII. O'ertopping Class — of title shorn — - These sway, by Thought — siipreme^ Beyond the Great we foster, borne Above the clouds, whence gleam FOR GROPING THRALLS, A SHIELD! 39 Eternal Truths — and nobly shine So high o'er av'rage bound Of mind, their instincts keen divine God's text, and plain expound. XIII. . These minds win mast'ry, not by strength Of Samson, or the rod Of Solomon, or Class its length Of rope had spun ; and God Had seen Fruition of His Plan — i So long deferred, because It is not patent yet that Man Must here complete God's Laws 1 40 FOR GROPING THRALLS, A SHIELD! XIV. But slow and toilsome Is the road Of wrestlers with the cares That Want and Wealth's Proscription goad, Whose heart-strings Mercy tears, And prompts to sound the warning 7tote Shall waken Freedom's sloth, Or whet the God-annointed Proat Shall kill earth's Tyrant-growth \ XV. Life's patriot hopes had been undone, And sceptres knit their shroud, But for the pangs beneath which groan The quick thought — unendowed FOR GROPING THRALLS, A SHIELD! 41 By leisure's vantage, poor in purse — Moved Genhis, with the tear Of Pity s Kindling, to rehearse Right's Maxims — Slaves to cheer / XVI. These Lights are damned by pensioned screed, Who damns all things not gilt ; But wherefore, pray, his curses heed- Since damned by Vanderbilt ? — Thou'lt 7iot accurse^ Reflective Mind, The voice would franchise thee / Or faintly warn life's tokens. — Blind Must be thine eye fails see ! 42 FOR GROPING THRALLS, A SHIELD! XVII. All 7nen who reck 07' ready and think Can not have missed perceive There is no sympathy, or link Between those would 7^elieve The wretchedness of woe and want, And those who feign believe Blood hath degrees, or idly Cant — Whilst hungered millions grieve ! XVIII. I echo griefs woo Dynamite ! — Aye ! Read, concentred here — Within the radius of your sight, Who spell my greeting clear, FOR GROPING THRALLS, A SHIELD! 43 The thought would, unimprisoned, cry : For tLS what fruit has Earth f The bounteous soil, tJie sea, the sky Were stofn before our birth I XIX. What tcse of arms, ivithout a field In which to swincr ? — To sail The parcel' d seas — their revenues yield To kings — of zuhat avail? — Why must we think, or feel, or strive ! — Hope^ offers tcs what zest ? On ev'ry source of thrift the gyve Of wealth has stamped its crest ! 44 FOR GROPING THRALLS, A SHIELD! XX. The forester, who fells a tree, Pays tribute to a Crown ; — Or, in otcr land, we boast so free. He tithes to those who own ! — Whoe'er would plant, or hoe, or plow, Mtist pay a rent. — The fee — ■ For all, by God created — now Is HELD FROM AnCESTRY ! XXI. What stimulant for him who lives — With heart and will to do — Bereft of power since Nature gives Her bounty to a few — FOR GROPING THRALLS, A SHIELD! 45 A few, who drive their Hveried teams, With panels 'scutcheoned bright, Whilst every Daily Issue teems With tales that sob : IS Right ! XXIL Tired Men are questioning: Is there Right f And with that thought, they II seek The stir est Factor — Dynamite — By which their souls may wreak The vengeful stroke — through long abuse — - Of whate er doth obstruct Lifes aspiration for the use Of Nature s Usufructs 46 FOR GROPING THRALLS, A shield: XXIII. That right may be, God doth a trust, And instinct, strong implant In ev'ry heart ; but now the crust Of poverty so scant, And hard, and dry — and wealth so gaud- And pow'r so false — and fame So oft' allied with wrong and fraud. All seems the Right disclaim^ I XXIV. And when the Right is so obscure In ev'ry walk, that life A burden grows, whe^^e none are sure Or safe — and hate, and strife FOR GROPING THRALLS, A SHIELD! 47 Prevail — and dark suspicion broods In ev'ry place of meed, — The time is ripe for those dire moods That Revolution breed f XXV. Thrice, Hail ! then, Factor of the Mass — The Mass enslaved by steam And wire, now centralizing- Class, Extlnorulshinof tJie zleam- That once illumined faith and hope — N'o longer to be fou7id When fostered cliqttes define the scope Life's intuitions bo2C7id. 48 FOR GROPING THRALLS, A SHIELD! XXVI. Behold slaves thonged to rail and wheel- To steam and wire bowed — To swell their Millions, who can feel No thouofht akin the crowd ! — Behold fruition checked — held down By ''tenures" — not by God, True Lord in Fee ; but of some clown Last born upon the sod ! XXVIL Where is the Ageitt dow'red our sphere- For its enlio^htenment — Not now perve7^ted, through the fear Bred by iinpoverishment FOR GROPING THRALLS, A SHIELD! 49 Of guileless soul and patient heart — In frames 0/ Men who work. And Women brave, who share their part. To pamper those who shirk I — XXVIII. To pamper those the substance rob From toil — hope's measure steal From pulses that so tender throb They do not guess, or feel How vultures — masked by human guise- Their.vital fibres drain To glut their coffers who despise The blood in labor's vein ! 50 FOR GROPING THRALLS, A SHIELD! XXIX Dread dangers menace T^'utlis estate ! Yet God hath raised a Shield For groping thralls — a Factor Great- When hunger may have reeled Man's craving stomach for so long, The angry wail shall burst : In Dynamite our Hope ! — The song Loud chorus : Class be Cursed ! XXX. Remember you, in France, how fared, (A century ago,) The Lords, from loaded tables, \s^^r^