God And The Right Poem by Joseph Skipsey

(1878.)


LET England beware ere war she declare,
She earn not the mark of the beast
By marching her power the State to secure
Of blood-imbued wolf of the East;
The Bulgarian, he, and Servian dree
Such wrongs, from their foeman, as might
Cause stones, could they speak, to cry 'for the
weak
Be thou—and for God and the Right!'

Such horrific crimes belong to past times;
The coldest and hardest heart bleeds—
A blush for our race be-crimsons each face,
When named are the Turk and his deeds;
Too awful are they to utter, nor may
Men know them and know a respite
From heart-ache till they have armed for the fray,
And battle for God and the Right!

An unbounded thirst for lucre accurst,
The helpless must sate—even so—
In this should they fail they're fated to wail
The blood-bringing lash of the foe;
In glee will the Turk his victim so work,
Such anguish inflict, at the sight,
The veriest serf grasps his sabre, resolved
To battle for God and the Right.

See! dearer than life, the daughter and wife,
A prey to the torturer's lust;
The Rayah heart-torn, yet ridiculed, mourn
His losses 'mid ashes and dust;
His dear home despoiled, his dear ones defiled,
A wreck what was once his delight—
What wonder if he, in delirium, flee
To battle for God and the Right:

The temple is burned, the altar's o'erturned,—
With blood the street runnelets run;
The prey bird and beast hie swiftly to feast
On corpses that rot in the sun;
The ban-dog's harsh tones, while crashing the
bones,
Are heard by the brave in the night;
But heard with a cry, death to hear, and they fly
To battle for God and the Right:

For God and the Right the Rebel States fight;
And whate'er the sequel—oh, oh:
If thou too must fight, for God and the Right,
Fight thou, in the vanguard, fight thou:
The gold-kings may howl and threaten and scowl,
Yet hold to thy purpose and smite,
Smite thou the proud Turk till he finds 'tis bad
work
To war against God and the Right.