SIR JOHN A. MACDONALDJUNE 6, 1891 DEAD! dead! And now before The threshold of bereavËd Earnscliffe stand, In spirit, all who dwell within our land, From shore to shore! Before that black-draped gate, Men, women, children mourn the Premier gone, For many loved and worshipped old Sir John, And none could hate. And he is dead, they say! The words confuse and mock the general ear— What! can there yet be House and members here, And no John A.? So long all hearts he swayed, Like merry monarch of some olden time, Whose subjects questioned not his right divine, But just obeyed His will's e'en faintest breath. We had forgotten, 'midst affairs of State, 'Midst Hansard, Second Readings and Debate, Such things as death! Swift came the dread eclipse Of faculty, and limb and life at last, Ere to the Judge of all the earth he passed, With silent lips, But not insensate heart! He was no harsh, self-righteous Pharisee— The tender Christ compassioned such as he, And took their part. As for his Statesman-fame, Let History calm his wondrous record read, And write the truth, and give him honest meed Of praise or blame! ENOUGH! the lie is ended. God only owns the land; No parchment deed hath virtue unsigned by His own hand; Out on the bold blasphemers who would eject the Lord, And pauperize His children, and trample on His word! Behold this glorious temple, with dome of starry sky, And floor of greensward scented, and trees for pillars high; And song of birds for music, and bleat of lambs for prayer, And incense of sweet vapors uprising everywhere. Behold his table bounteous spread over land and sea, The sure reward of labor, to every mortal free; And hark! through Nature's anthem there rises the refrain, "God owns the world, but giveth it unto the sons of men." But see, within the temple, as in Solomon's of old, The money-changers haggle, and souls are bought and sold; And that is called an owner's which can only be the Lord's, And Christ is not remembered—nor His whip of knotted cords. But Christ has not forgotten, and wolfish human greed Shall be driven from our heritage; God's bounties shall be freed; And from out our hoary statutes shall be torn the crime-stained leaves, Which have turned the world, God's Temple, into a den of thieves. |