God, Give Us Men! by Josiah Holland

GOD, give us men! A time like this demands
Strong minds, great hearts, true faith and ready hands;
Men whom the lust of office does not kill;
Men whom the spoils of office can not buy;
Men who possess opinions and a will;
Men who have honor; men who will not lie;
Men who can stand before a demagogue
And damn his treacherous flatteries without winking!
Tall men, sun-crowned, who live above the fog
In public duty, and in private thinking;
For while the rabble, with their thumb-worn creeds,
Their large professions and their little deeds,
Mingle in selfish strife, lo! Freedom weeps,
Wrong rules the land and waiting Justice sleeps.

Josiah Gilbert Holland.
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Roland's Comments.

This poem contains one of my all time favorite lines:

Tall men, sun crowned, who live above the fog.

If you click on the listen to audio button just above the poem, you can hear it being read.

Last night at a choir performance, Kati Rosten, choir director, told us a little about Josiah Holland before we had the opportunity to actually sing a hymn he wrote: There's a Song In the Air. What a thrill it was!

This morning I learned the following from Wikipedia:
"Although his literary products are rarely read today, during the late nineteenth century they were enormously popular, and more than half a million volumes of Holland's writings were sold. He is also remembered today for his contributions as an editor. Holland and his wife were frequent correspondents and family friends of poet Emily Dickinson. "

Thank you Josiah Holland. Incidentally, I heard someone quote from the poem on the radio
so we know that his poetry is still being read (and his songs sung).