HEROES OF A MIGHTY PAST.

Maoriland Worker, Volume 3, Issue 54, 22 March 1912, Page 2

HEROES OF A MIGHTY PAST.

In Commemoration of the Paris Commune of 1871. (From London "Justice.") Heroes of a mighty past, On whose brows Truth's radiance shone, Who thro' battle, fire, and blast, Bore the people's banner on! By your vast devotion fired May our waking spirits sea That high goal so long siredJustice and Fraternity! By all glorious sacrifice, By the martyr's scorn of death, By the pangs that are the price Of the birth of nobler faith, By the lives who at her call Of their strength and talent give, By the Love that conquers all— Know by these shall Freedom live! Yea! Triumphant shall sh« reign In the nearing brighter years; Not unfruitful, not In vain Seed oft sown with bleed and tears, Far our eyas behold a star Hov'ring o'er a hope newborn Where the beams of sunrise are At the portals or the mwn, Like a mighty surging sea Shall the People's cause arise, Undermining tyranny, Till o'erthrewn eaoh rampart lies; On serener waters thsn, Shall th 3 Dawn irradiant move, Liberty shall come to men In that day of deathless Jova. —Rose E. Sharland.