dots-menu
×

Home  »  The World’s Best Poetry  »  The Martyrs’ Hymn

Bliss Carman, et al., eds. The World’s Best Poetry. 1904.

VI. Human Experience

The Martyrs’ Hymn

Martin Luther (1483–1546)

From the German by William Johnson Fox

FLUNG to the heedless winds,

Or on the waters cast,

The martyrs’ ashes, watched,

Shall gathered be at last;

And from that scattered dust,

Around us and abroad,

Shall spring a plenteous seed

Of witnesses for God.

The Father hath received

Their latest living breath;

And vain is Satan’s boast

Of victory in their death;

Still, still, though dead, they speak,

And, trumpet-tongued, proclaim

To many a wakening land

The one availing name.