Page:The Soul of a Century.djvu/110

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Though we are scorned and endlessly complain;
Just as a river flows beneath the ice
Thus underneath the Roman tyrant’s yoke
A nation lives and who shall still its voice?
Before this wall, the ices are released,
We are, we live, we breathe and feel again,
Once more we are a Nation; ’tis this that really counts.

MY CHANGELESS FATE

My Fate will never change for me
But one day to arise and fall
And ’ere Death plays her melody
Only these words will I recall;
“My Fate will never change for me.”

I would drink wine, but I swallow dust,
I would cheer others, but grieve alone.
I long for strength and fancy’s thrust
But only grievous words intone.
I would drink wine, but swallow dust.

My dreams of happiness are brief,
Across my life, deep shadows plod.
I feel the weight of all my grief,
I am fashioned of a luckless clod.
My dreams of happiness are brief.

What can I do! Be still and bear?
Someday perhaps, my sun will rise.
I wish my soul, like a bird could flare
And fly from out its narrow ties.
What can I do! Be still and bear?

No one will I stop to upbraid,
To reproach him for his sham and pain,
Of storms and thunder unafraid
Like a nightingale I will sing my strain.
No one will I stop to upbraid.

My Fate will never change for me,
Perhaps this is my end, at length,
To die in my dreams’ rhapsody,
To hold you back, I lack the strength.
My Fate will never change for me.

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