Upton Sinclair, ed. (1878–1968).
The Cry for Justice: An Anthology of the Literature of Social Protest. 1915. | | | | Batuschka |
By Thomas Bailey Aldrich |
(New England poet and journalist, 1836–1907) |
| | | FROM yonder gilded minaret | |
| Beside the steel-blue Neva set, | |
| I faintly catch, from time to time, | |
| The sweet, aerial midnight chime— | |
| “God save the Tsar!” | 5 |
| |
| Above the ravelins and the moats | |
| Of the white citadel it floats; | |
| And men in dungeons far beneath | |
| Listen, and pray, and gnash their teeth— | |
| “God save the Tsar!” | 10 |
| |
| The soft reiterations sweep | |
| Across the horror of their sleep, | |
| As if some demon in his glee | |
| Were mocking at their misery— | |
| “God save the Tsar!” | 15 |
| |
| In his red palace over there, | |
| Wakeful, he needs must hear the prayer. | |
| How can it drown the broken cries | |
| Wrung from his children’s agonies?— | |
| “God save the Tsar!” | 20 |
| |
| Father they called him from of old— | |
| Batuschka!… How his heart is cold! | |
| Wait till a million scourgèd men | |
| Rise in their awful might, and then— | |
| “God save the Tsar!” | 25 | | | |
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