Poem #3

CLEAR THE WAY BY CHARLES MACKAY

Men of thought! be up, and stirring

Night and day:

Sow the seed-withdraw the curtain-

Clear the way!

Men of action, aid and cheer them,

As ye may!

There's a fount about stream,

There's a light about to gleam,

There's a warmth about to glow,

There's a flower about to blow;

There's midnight blackness changing

Into gray!

Men of thought and men of action,

Clear the way!

Once the welcome light has broken,

Who shall say,

What the unimagined glories

Of the day?

What the evil that shall perish

In its ray?

Aid the drawing, tongue and pen;

Aid it, hopes of honest men;

Aid it, paper-aid it, type-

Aid it, for the hour is ripe,

And our earnest must not slacken

Into play.

Men of thought and men of action,

Clear the way!

Lo! a cloud's about to vanish

From the day;

And a brazen wrong to crumble

Into clay.

Lo! The right's about to conquer,

Clear the way!

With the right shall many more

Enter, smiling at the door;

With the giant wrong shall fall

Many others great and small,

That for ages long have held us

For their prey;

Men of thought and men of action,

Clear the way!

xo Deirdre