Eroica

I

Down! Down! Tear down those tyrannical kings
From their great thrones set high above the earth;
No Sun King shall silence the poet, who sings
To all of Mankind a song of rebirth!

The King of Dunsinane had heard his cue
And left his candle's flame to smoke undone.
The birth of the Golden Child, long overdue;
The Golden Age of Man has just begun.

Tear down those walls that imprisoned our men
And traditions that paralyzed our minds:
When Apollo sings with the poets, then
Bright sparks of divinity Mankind finds!

While cries of joy thundered among the young,
Which heroes were forgotten, left unsung?

II

The candle extinguished, the proud king died,
And darkness overwhelmed the silent land:
No more war cries, or cries of high command,
Roars of cannons, or whimpers by bedside.

When young Dawn with her rose-red fingers shone,
The people massed, crowding the meeting ground.
Seeing the Hero's procession, they found
That April was not yet here, and Life - gone...

O Heroes! Valiant women and men!
Thou art the deathless symbols of the dead!
We shed our burning tears, but not for thee...

But for the anonymous martyrs, when
Their stories shall never be heard or read...
We mourn for them - their blood has set us free!

III

O Little Girl! To see you smile again
Like Dawn (aroused by Athena to rise
And carry daylight to the world of Man),
Genuine tears of rapture filled my eyes!
O Little Girl! April is here again;
Life, for a second time, is my first prize.
May the heroes to Hades' realm belong;
Your sacred smile ennobled by my Song.

IV

Can we, like the little girl, smile again
Without feeling the burden of a time
When she would cry for her mother in vain?

Prometheus, though committed a crime,
Feared not the Eagle: for Fire everywhere
Is the deathless symbol of the sublime.

Aeneas exiled far from Troy's nightmare
And suffered much violence of war, before
Found'd New Troy and saw her goddess-born heir.

So even if young Siward lived no more,
As darkness overwhelmed the silent knight
And Earth buried the armour that he wore:

Courageous Man! Be hopeful, just and right;
The Golden Child shall bring eternal light!