RIGHTS.
I heard a voice cry through the night,
Crying from off some lonely height,
A gently earnest cry for Right.
Crying from off some lonely height,
A gently earnest cry for Right.
Through the sad sweetness of that voice
A stifled echo did rejoice,
As if the sadness were of choice.
A stifled echo did rejoice,
As if the sadness were of choice.
And all along the south-wind spread,
With scents and dews its tones were shed,
Shadowed with vagueness, not with dread.
With scents and dews its tones were shed,
Shadowed with vagueness, not with dread.
But gathering more articulate,
Breathless I heard soft lips relate
The grievance of their mortal state.
Breathless I heard soft lips relate
The grievance of their mortal state.
"I will have Right! my right to be
First in all love-borne ministry;
The spring beneath thy roots, O tree!
First in all love-borne ministry;
The spring beneath thy roots, O tree!
