Poem

The Triumph of the People

by Henry Lawson · 1891

Lo, the gods of Vice and Mammon from their pinnacles are hurledBy the workers' new religion, which is oldest in the world;And the earth will feel her children treading firmly on the sod,For the triumph of the People is the victory of God.
Not the victory of Churches, nor of Punishment and Wrath,Not the triumph of the sceptic, throwing shadows on the path,But of Christ and love and mercy o'er the Monarch and the Rod,For the harvest of the Saviour is the aftermath of God.
O the Light of Revelation, since the reign of Care began,Has been shining through the ages on the darkened eyes of man.And the willing slave of Error, he is senseless as a clod,For the simple Book of Nature is the written scroll of God.
Who will dare to say the sunlight on the pregnant Earth was shedThat the few might rest and fatten, while the many fight for bread?Lo, there springs a common garden, where the foot of Greed hath trod,For the victory of Labour was the prophecy of God.
Mother Earth, in coming seasons, shall fulfil her motherhood;Then the children of her bosom never more shall want for food,And oppression shall no longer grind the people iron-shod;For the lifted hand of Labour is the upraised hand of God.
Sources, publication & text notesReference details
Canonical recordPOEM-000693
Copy-textProject Gutenberg Australia, Collected Poems of Henry Lawson (2022), anchor p291; selected digital copy-text retained exactly; wording and layout confirmed against Ironbark Resources under D-180
Source recordSRC-000066
Rights determinationRGT-000773
Text statusCANONICAL TEXT READY
TranscriptionDIPLOMATIC_D208_D180

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