A Land in Shadow

When ‘neath a shade of craven dread

A land of old now rests her head

And dreams of golden times before

The darkness hope away had borne;

Before the graves more grand became

Than homes of living men, and vain

Had grown the thoughts of those

Set up to govern ones below;

When, at long last, beneath the grim

And evil cloud that threatens them,

There rise again men bold and true,

Who pledge to bring the light anew;

Shall people not cast off the yoke

That thralled their fathers past, who spoke

Of days beyond the nightfall dim,

And swore the sun would shine again?