Marching Song
- ‘O WHEREFORE do ye stand, a stern and steadfast band,
- With your feet upon the pathway whence fame has turned away?’
- We hunger not for fame, nor heed world’s praise or blame,
- Since fame and honour parted this many many a day!
- ‘What colour do ye wear—what banner do ye bear
- When you turn your faces fightwards, and make your weapons keen?’
- Our banner’s folds are red as our blood which we will shed
- Ere that again be suffered which heretofore has been!
- ‘Whom, then, do ye befriend, whose cause do ye defend—
- Are there any need such champions and fighting men as ye?’
- Our arms and hearts are strong for all who suffer wrong,
- And a world of woe can witness how many such there be!
- ‘But the Golden Calf stands high, and all its priests will cry,
- “Ye are heretics and outcasts if ye worship not as we”!’
- ’Tis our only boast to‐day that we worship not as they,
- And to their cursed idol will never bow the knee!
- ‘What armies fight for you, O ye who are so few,
- O ye who are so few in a world that is so wide?’
- The Spirits of the Light shall do battle for the Right—
- And who shall be against us, if these be on our side?
1887.
