<h2><SPAN name="page81"></SPAN><span class="pagenum"></span>A SONG OF REPUBLICS</h2>
<p class="poetry">Fair Freedom’s ship, too long
adrift—<br/>
Of every wind the sport—<br/>
Now rigged and manned, her course well planned,<br/>
Sails proudly out of port;<br/>
And fluttering gaily from the mast<br/>
This motto is unfurled,<br/>
Let all men heed its truth who read:<br/>
“Republics rule the World!”</p>
<p class="poetry">The universe is high as God!<br/>
Good is the final goal;<br/>
The world revolves and man evolves<br/>
A purpose and a soul.<br/>
No church can bind, no crown forbid<br/>
Thought’s mighty upward course—<br/>
Let kings give way before its sway,<br/>
For God inspires its force.</p>
<p class="poetry"><SPAN name="page82"></SPAN><span class="pagenum">p.
82</span>The hero of a vanished age<br/>
Was one who bathed in gore;<br/>
Who best could fight was noblest knight<br/>
In savage days of yore;<br/>
Now warrior chiefs are out of date,<br/>
The times have changed. To-day<br/>
We call men great who arbitrate<br/>
And keep war’s hounds at bay.</p>
<p class="poetry">The world no longer looks to priest<br/>
Or prince to know its needs;<br/>
Earth’s human throng has grown too strong<br/>
To rule with courts and creeds.<br/>
We want no kings but kings of toil—<br/>
No crowns but crowns of deeds;<br/>
Not royal birth but sterling worth<br/>
Must mark the man who leads.</p>
<p class="poetry">Proud monarchies are out of step<br/>
With modern thought to-day,<br/>
For Brotherhood is understood,<br/>
And thrones may pass away.<br/>
Men dare to think. Concerted thought<br/>
Contains more power than swords:<br/>
The force that binds united minds<br/>
Defeats mere savage hordes.</p>
<p class="poetry"><SPAN name="page83"></SPAN><span class="pagenum">p.
83</span>Man needs no arbitrary hand<br/>
To keep him in control;<br/>
He feels the power grow hour by hour<br/>
Of his expanding soul:<br/>
In God’s stupendous scheme of worlds<br/>
He knows he has a place;<br/>
He is no slave to cringe, and crave<br/>
Some worthless monarch’s grace.</p>
<p class="poetry">As ocean billows undermine<br/>
The haughty shores each hour,<br/>
Time’s sea has brought its waves of thought<br/>
To crumble thrones of power;<br/>
And one by one shall kingdoms fall<br/>
Like leaves before the blast,<br/>
As man with man combines to plan<br/>
Republics formed to last.</p>
<p class="poetry">Columbia baulked a tyrant king,<br/>
And built upon a rock,<br/>
In Freedom’s name, a shrine whose fame<br/>
Outlived the century’s shock.<br/>
Now France within our port has set<br/>
Her symbol of re-birth;<br/>
Her lifted hand tells sea and land<br/>
Republics light the earth.</p>
<p class="poetry"><SPAN name="page84"></SPAN><span class="pagenum">p.
84</span>One mighty church for all the world<br/>
Would make men far more kind;<br/>
One government would bring content<br/>
To many a restless mind.<br/>
Sail on, fair ship of Freedom, sail<br/>
The wide sea’s breadth and length.<br/>
’Till worlds unite to make the might<br/>
Of “One Republic’s” strength.</p>
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