Page:Songs, Legends, and Ballads.djvu/39

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THERE IS BLOOD ON THE EARTH.
27

THERE IS BLOOD ON THE EARTH.


THERE is blood on the face of the earth—
It reeks through the years, and is red:
Where Truth was slaughtered at birth,
And the veins of Liberty bled.

Lo! vain is the hand that tries
To cover the crimson stain:
It spreads like a plague, and cries
Like a soul in writhing pain.

It wasteth the planet's flesh;
It calleth on breasts of stone:
God holdeth His wrath in a leash
Till the hearts of men atone.

Blind, like the creatures of time;
Cursed, like all the race,