Page:Poems Sackville.djvu/99

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The Helots

Degenerate clay,
Called forth at the bidding of princes mere bodies to torture and slay?

We have sprung from the dust;
Not of ours was the breed,
When the earth's barren crust,
As the great gods decreed,
Brought forth from its stones a new people tremendous in purpose and deed.

We follow despair;
In our eyes is no light;
Cold shadows ensnare
And deaden our sight;
We see but a darkness eternal—deep gulfs of deplorable night.

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