Democracy Triumphant

(To Canada and the Future)

O latest Warder of Democracy,
The Elder Nations westward turn their eyes
To mark thy happy, hardy hosts uprise
A mighty people,—self-reliant, free,—
Their souls unstained by foulest sorcery
Of noxious demagogues whose wiles disguise
But sanguine lusts, arid whose polluted lies
Besmirk the fairest form of Liberty!

Not with a Titan's strength shalt thou be strong,
Nor build thine empire with mere Might that can;
No kingdom hides whose pillars stand on wrong—
Free first the bonds that bind the Mind of Man,
Then Truth shall triumph (tho the strife be long)
And Earth bloom loveliest since Time began.