106. the good fight.
by Charles A. Barry.
Back to battle again!--shake the starry folds out!Strike for God and the country! Ho, soldiers, about!
Look! the demon of bloodshed, in horrid array,
Stands grim and defiant against the broad day.
Oh, wild is the heart of the nation with pain!
America weeps o'er the couch of the slain!
For the blood of her suppliants beats like a sea
'Gainst the old and the young--'gainst the bond and the free.
Hark, men of the North! can ye hear the loud wail
Coming up from the South, as your chosen ones fail?
Do ye feel the fierce throes of a land in decay?
'Tis the crime of the Universe passing away!
Your dead are uncovered in pestilent graves!
Your comrades are chained in that region of slaves!
See the hands that are stretching out Northward in prayer!
Hear the cry that is drifting twixt hope and despair!
Blow the bugles of War! Shout, Redemption is nigh!
Fling your emblems of Liberty out to the sky!
Sing a song of Salvation, march manfully on--
For a victory waits you, and Peace can be won.
Away! let the world feel the shock as you pass,
Like a hurricane onward, through glen and morass;
Quick! fight the Good Fight,--help the Lord in his wrath,
And plant the old Banner down deep in your path.
O dear Land of Freedom! O Hope of the Earth!
The crucifix gleams, for Christ knoweth thy worth;
Thou shalt rise from this agony cleansed in his sight,
From a sin that will melt in the mazes of night.
Then, best of all lands will our cherished land be,
The Pride of the World, and the Home of the Free!
Then Time shall destroy both the spear and the sword,
And men shall acknowledge the strength, of the Lord.
