Bars and Shadows | Page 7

bow with that mad horde
And passively obey.
I will not
think their sordid thoughts
Nor say the things they say,
Nor wear
their shameful uniforms,
Nor branded be as they.
Nor can they bend me to their will
Though black their numbers swell,

Nor bribe with hopes of paradise
Nor force with fears of hell;
Me
they may break but never bend,--
I live but to rebel!
I go my way rejoicingly,
I, outcast, spurned and low,
But
undreamed worlds may come to birth
From seeds that I may sow.

And if there's pain within my heart
Those fools shall never know.
So let me stand back silently,
The pageant passes by,
And live my
life with these new Christs
Whom you would crucify,
And laugh
with mirth to see the mob
Do homage to a Lie!

THE WEST IS DEAD
What path is left for you to tread
When hunger-wolves are slinking
near--
Do you not know the West is dead?
The "blanket-stiff" now packs his bed
Along the trails of yesteryear--

What path is left for you to tread?
Your fathers, golden sunsets led
To virgin prairies wide and clear--

Do you not know the West is dead?
Now dismal cities rise instead
And freedom is not there nor here--

What path is left for you to tread?
Your fathers' world, for which they bled,
Is fenced and settled far and
near--
Do you not know the West is dead?
Your fathers gained a crust of bread,
Their bones bleach on the lost
frontier;
What path is left for you to tread--
Do you not know the
West is dead?
UP FROM YOUR KNEES
(Air: "Song of a Thousand Years")
Up from your knees, ye cringing serf men!
What have ye gained by
whines and tears?
Rise! They can never break our spirits
Though
they should try a thousand years.
CHORUS
A thousand years, then speed the victory!
Nothing can stop us nor
dismay.
After the winter comes the springtime;
After the darkness
comes the day.
Break ye your chains, strike off your fetters;
Beat them to swords, the
Foe appears.
Slaves of the world arise and crush him--
Crush him

or serve a thousand years.
Join in the fight--the Final Battle,
Welcome the fray with ringing
cheers.
These are the times our fathers dreamed of,
Fought to attain
a thousand years.
Be ye prepared, be not unworthy,
Greater the task when triumph
nears.
Master the earth, O men of labor;
Long have ye learned--a
thousand years.
Out of the East the sun is rising,
Out of the night the day appears;

See! at your feet the world is waiting,
Bought with your blood a
thousand years.
THE EUNUCH
(To those who fight on the side of the Powers of Darkness)
Once a Eunuch by the palace
In the sunset's fading glow
Felt the
soft warm breezes blow;
Watched the fair girls of the Harem
Idly
saunter to and fro.
Saw he beauty young and lavish--
Fierce to lure man's every sense--

(Grim the Eunuch stood and tense)
Laughingly the sparkling
fountain
Mocked his bleak incompetence.
Came the Sultan from his hunting
Flaming with the zest of life;

(Laid aside were spear and knife)
Came for wine and song and
feasting,
Came to seek his fairest wife.
Opened then the marble portals.
Fragrant incense filled the air,

(Sandalwood and roses rare)
While the girls with red-lipped languor

Scattered flowers everywhere.
Far away the fabled mountains,
(Like some paradise of old)
Glowed
with lavender and gold.
Tense the Eunuch stood and silent--
Tense

and sullen, tense and cold.
Now a quick impotent fury
Lashed him like a bronze-tipped cord.

Sprang he at the youthful lord,
Sprang again with blade all bloody . . .

(Famished lust and dripping sword.)

Night crept on all chill and ghastly,
Jackals trotted forth to bark,

(Murder shuddered, still and stark . . .)
By the palace ceased the
fountain
And the whole grey world grew dark.
I. W. W. PRISON SONG
(Tune: "The Red Flag")
The pale and dismal daylight falls
Through iron bars on prison walls.

In chains we came from far and near,
And in dark cells they hold
us here.
CHORUS
Defiant 'neath the Iron Heel;
Their walls of stone and bars of steel!

For though all hell at us is hurled,
We and our kind shall rule the
world!
At us the blood-hounds are let loose,
The lynch-mobs with the
knotted noose;
In legal sanctioned mask and gown
The New Black
Hundreds hunt us down.
To all brave comrades o'er the sea,
In chains for human liberty,
And
all jailed rebels everywhere
We say: be bold to do and dare!
By all the graves of Labor's dead,
By Labor's deathless flag of red,

We make a solemn vow to you,--
We'll keep the faith; we will be
true.

For Freedom laughs at prison bars
Her voice re-echoes from the stars;

Proclaiming with the tempest's breath
A Cause beyond the reach of
death!
TO FRANCE
(May Day, 1919)
Mother of revolutions, stern and sweet,
Thou of the red Commune's
heroic days;
Unsheathe thy sword, let thy pent lightning blaze
Until
these new bastiles fall at thy feet.
Once more thy sons march down
the ancient street
Led by pale men from silent Pere la Chaise;
Once
more La Carmignole--La Marseillaise
Blend with the war drum's
quick and angry beat.
Ah, France--our--France--must they again endure
The crown of