de CLEYRE, Voltairine “Written in Red”

(To Our Living Dead in Mexico’s Struggle)

literature: poetryDE CLEYRE, Voltairine (1866-1912) Audio

Voltairine de Cleyre’s last poem. It was published in a collection of poems with the same title: Written in Red. Selected Poems of Voltairine de Cleyre->art5552]
You may listen to this poem on the LibriVox website

Written in red their protest stands,
For the gods of the World to see;On the dooming wall their bodiless hands
have blazoned "Upharsin," and flaring brands
Illumine the message: "Seize the lands!
Open the prisons and make men free!"
Flame out the living words of the dead
Written-in-red.
Gods of the World! Their mouths are dumb!
Your guns have spoken and they are dust.
But the shrouded Living, whose hearts were numb,
have felt the beat of a wakening drum
Within them sounding-the Dead men’s tongue—
Calling: "Smite off the ancient rust!"
Have beheld "Resurrexit," the word of the Dead,
Written-in-red.
Bear it aloft, O roaring, flame!
Skyward aloft, where all may see.
Slaves of the World! Our cause is the same;One is the immemorial shame;One is the struggle, and in One name—
MANHOOD— we battle to set men free.
"Uncurse us the Land!" burn the words of the Dead,
Written-in-red.