free-verse49 lines
To An Unionist.
by Francis William Lauderdale Adams"If you only knew
How gladly I've given it
All these years -
The light of mine eyes,
The heat of my lips,
Mine agonies,
My yearning tears,
My blood that drips,
My brain that sears:
If you only knew
How gladly I've given it
All these years -
My hope and my youth,
My manhood, my Art,
My passion, my truth,
My mind and my heart:
"O my brother, you would not say,
What have you to do with me?
You would not, would not turn away
Doubtingly and bitterly.
"If you only knew
How little I cared for
These other things -
The delicate speech,
The high demand
Of each from each,
The imaginings
Of Love's Holy Land:
If you only knew
How little I cared for
These other things -
The wide clear view
Over peoples and times,
The search in the new
Entrancing climes,
Science's wings
And Art's sweet chimes:
"O my brother, if you only knew
What to me in these things is understood,
As it seems to me it would seem to you,
What was good for the Cause was surely good:
"O my brother, you would not say:
What have you to do with me?
You would not, would not turn away
Doubtingly and bitterly:
"But you would take my hand with your hand,
O my brother, if you only knew;
You would smile at me, you would understand,
You would call me brother as I call you!"