Various

“ The path that like a serpent into the dark woods wound,
The peaceful light of dawn that shone beyond the slumberous stream—
And silence on our circle fell; we sat without a sound.
We all of us were longing to forget: for want and toil,
Privations sore and many cares had weighed upon us long;
And, with a gentle, soothing song of reconciling love,
I, even as in my youthful dreams, stepped forth before the throng. ”

“ O’er the mighty river floats?
’Tis a song, they say—the chanting
Of the men who haul the boats.
Thou dost not in spring, vast Volga,
Flood the fields along thy strand
As our nation’s flood of sorrow,
Swelling, overflows the land. ”

“ And hangs above me like a boding cloud.
That leaden cloud depresses heavily;
It chills the brain, with long confinement worn,
And pierces deep my soul with poison hot
Of black and heavy thoughts, in prison born. ”

“ What burning tears of sorrow I would shed!
To earth the holy, long-forgot Ideal
Should come again, arisen from the dead.
The world should waken, filled with fear, and quake,
Like to a culprit, conscience-struck within ”

“ Groundless complaints and clamorous phrases loud,
And vanity, with its envenomed darts—
Whatever of harm life, like a viewless plague,
Sows ’mid us all, e’en in the noblest hearts—
All these grew calm, and only one desire,
One impulse in us all blazed into fire—
To suffer and to strive with all our souls
To scatter the surrounding darkness dire. ”

“ And each of us, while speaking, felt relief.
Brothers whose aspirations were the same,
Life’s fellow-travellers on the self-same path,
Oh, strange with what mistrust and bitterness
We on each other gazed, like foes in wrath! ”

“ Our spirit is a plant immortal, fair;
Its petals, sweet of scent and rich of hue,
Are scattered wide, are blooming everywhere.
In thinking men and women now they bloom,
In souls that love the light and righteousness. ”

“ There is a grave, but where it lies no passer-by could say.
The place is all forsaken, a dreary spot and lone;
No wreath lies on that sepulchre, there stands no marble stone;
There grows no grass, no flower, no leaf—yet there in death’s embrace
A hero rests, a soldier brave who came of Jewish race. ”

“ In America, popular interest in Russia has been much increased by the Russo-Japanese war. The utter inefficiency, incapacity and corruption of the Russian government were made plain to the American people by the war, as the autocracy's lack of regard for all moral considerations had already been made plain by its treatment of the Finns, Jews, Poles and Armenians, and by the persecution of Russia's most distinguished literary men. The inevitable result has been increased sympathy with the Russian people, as opposed to the Russian government ”

“ I sang to them a glowing hymn, inspired and filled with hope;
I sang that truth was destined to be victor in the fight;
That darkness could not evermore resist its radiance clear,
And that the future of our land would joyful be and bright. ”

“ My voice rang not that evening to amuse an idle throng
Of full-gorged earthly demi-gods; no! I was singing then,
Without expecting glory and without desiring praise,
As a brother unto brothers, unto tired and toil-worn men. ”

“ And every night at midnight this scene is acted o’er.
The soldier’s curses, deep and dread, are gathering more and more.
They grow and grow; the tempest’s wings on to Gatschina bear
Those curses keen, and scatter them upon the palace there. ”

“ Death and destruction dealt to wretched Jews.
“Jews, hapless Jews are we, without a friend,
A joy, or hope of happiness, alack!
Ask us no more, no more! Leave us in peace.
America to Russia drives us back—
“To Russia, whence we fled; to Russia back,
Because we have no money. Journeying thus,
What have we left to look for or to hope?
What good is life or this dark world to us? ”

“ To spray and fine mist by the force of the shock.
The storm-finch, the bird that resembles dark lightning,
Is soaring with cries ’mid the tempest’s fierce breath;
Like an arrow he pierces the clouds ”

“ Is heard a groaning deep;
The heart beats slowly, wearily,
And thought is lost in sleep.
But through the gloom your image
Shines like a magic lamp;
Like a bright beam, it drives away
The dark cell’s cold and damp. ”

“ Lurk in fancies such as these,
For man’s intellect is subtle,
Swayed and influenced with ease.
And, beside the snares of old time
Spread the peasants’ feet before,
Well I know designing people
Have invented many more. ”

“ P. POLIVANOV
[Polivanov was a revolutionist who tried to rescue some of his friends from prison. He was caught, and was imprisoned for twenty years in the fortress of Schlusselbourg. At the end of his term he was released, with shattered nerves, and soon after committed suicide.]
I long for liberty, I long for light ”