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Cry of the Ages (E. Nesbit)

from The First Shall Be The Last by Matt Rivers

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about

A poem by Edith Nesbit, an author of many children's books as well as a profound advocate for Worker's Rights, found in "The Little Red Songbook".

lyrics

If you dam up the river of progress
At your peril and cost let it be
That river must seawards despite you
Twill break down your dams and be free
And we heed not the pitiful barriers
That you in its way have downcast
For your efforts but add to the torrent
Whose flood must overwhelm you at last
For our banner is raised and unfurled
at your head our defiance is hurled
our cry is the cry of the ages
our hope is the hope of the world

We laugh in the face of the forces
Who strengthen the tide they oppose
For the harder oppression, the fiercer
The current will be when it flows
We shall win and the tyrants battalions
Will be scattered like chaff in the fight
From which the true Soldiers of Freedom
Shall gather new courage and might
For our banner is raised and unfurled
at your head our defiance is hurled
our cry is the cry of the ages
our hope is the hope of the world

Whether leading the van of the fighters
In the bitterest stress of the strife
Or patiently bearing the burden
Of ceaselessly commonplace life
One hope we have ever before us
Our aim to attain and fulfill
One watchword we cherish to mark us
One kindred and brotherhood still
For our banner is raised and unfurled
at your head our defiance is hurled
our cry is the cry of the ages
our hope is the hope of the world

What matter if failure on failure
Crowd closely upon us and press
When a hundred have bravely been beaten
The hundred and first wins success
Our watchword is Freedom; new soldiers
Flock each day where her flag’s unfurled
Our cry is the cry of the ages
Our hope is the hope of the world
For our banner is raised and unfurled
at your head our defiance is hurled
our cry is the cry of the ages
our hope is the hope of the world

credits

from The First Shall Be The Last, released May 1, 2023

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Matt Rivers

Matt Rivers is a modern relic & torchbearer for the old ways of song craft & performance; following in the footsteps of such artists as: Woody Guthrie, Blind Willie McTell, Harry McClintock, & countless nameless & forgotten forebears of the folk tradition. ... more

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