Poems (Helen Jenkins)/The Great Reform

THE GREAT REFORM.

We thank Thee, O our God, to-day,
That this good work is done!
They who have battled for the right,
A victory have won.

Each pine-clad hill and ice-bound glen
Echoes the great, glad cry,
"No longer here shall brother men
Upon the gallows die."

The earth is clad in pure white snow,
As soft as eider down,
Gleaming with pearls and brilliant gems,
Fair as a regal crown.

Thus fitly drest, dear Maine receives
The people's glad acclaim,
As, with uplifted hands, they wipe
This blot from her fair name.

Now take those spectral ruins down
And bury them from sight;
No longer may their shadows frown
Upon God's truth and right.

Honor and grateful praise we give
The noble, earnest few,
Who, heeding not men's scoffs and jeers,
To God and man were true.

We scorn to keep a barbarous law
In this enlightened land;
For Christ the Lord came not in vain
Upon His mission grand.

He taught us to be merciful;
He told us how to live;
He taught as never man before,
"'Tis God-like to forgive."

"Vengeance is mine; I will repay,"
Is written in His word:
Evil with goodness overcome,—
This mandate ye have heard.

Though sin and crime and misery
Walk hand in hand to-day,
Remorse and terror, in their steps,
Follow the same dark way;

And he who plunges into crime,
Deep anguish must endure:
Though wicked hands together join,
His punishment is sure.

Then let our fallen brother man
Keep the poor boon of life,
Till He who gave that boon, shall end
Its bitterness and strife.

Keep him from dread temptation safe
Within the prison walls;
A life-long penance is enough,
Though Justice loudly calls.

Surely, at last, remorseful pains
And penitential tears
Shall wash away the fearful stains,
Through all the weary years.