Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE BALLAD OF SPLENDID SILENCE; IN MEMORIAM FERENCZ RENYL, by EDITH BLAND NESBIT


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE BALLAD OF SPLENDID SILENCE; IN MEMORIAM FERENCZ RENYL, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: This is the story of renyi and whence you have heard it through
Last Line: For the freedom we live for to-day!
Alternate Author Name(s): Nesbit, E.; Bland, Mrs. Hubert
Subject(s): Freedom; Hungary; Socialism; Liberty


THIS is the story of Renyi,
And when you have heard it through,
Pray God He send no trial like his
To try the faith of you.
And if is doom be upon you,
Then may God grant you this:
To fight as good a fight as he,
And win a crown like his!
He was strong and handsome and happy,
Beloved and loving and young,
With eyes that men set their trust in,
And the fire of his soul on his tongue.
He loved the Spirit of Freedom,
He hated his country's wrongs,
He told the patriots' stories,
And he sang the patriots' songs.
With mother and sister and sweetheart
His safe glad days went by,
Till Hungary called on her children
To arm, to fight, and to die.
'Good-bye to mother and sister;
Good-bye to my sweet sweetheart;
I fight for you -- you pray for me,
We shall not be apart!'
The women prayed at the sunrise,
They prayed when the skies grew dim;
His mother and sister prayed for the Cause,
His sweetheart prayed for him.

For mother and sister and sweetheart,
But most for the true and the right,
He low laid down his own life's hopes
And led his men to fight.
Skirmishing, scouting, and spying,
Night-watch, attack, and defeat;
The resolute, desperate fighting,
The hopeless, reluctant retreat;
Ruin, defeat, and disaster,
Capture and loss and despair,
And half of his regiment hidden,
And only this man knew where!
Prisoner, fast bound, sore wounded,
They brought him roughly along
With his body as weak and broken
As his spirit was steadfast and strong
Before the Austrian general --
'Where are your men?' he heard;
He looked black death in its ugly face
And answered never a word.
'Where is your regiment hidden?
Speak -- you are pardoned straight.
No? We can find dumb dogs their tongues,
You rebel reprobate!'
They dragged his mother and sister
Into the open hall.
'Give up your men, if these women
Are dear to your heart at all!'
He turned his eyes on his sister,
And spoke to her silently;
She answered his silence with speaking,
And straight from her heart spoke she:

'If you betray your country,
You spit on our father's name;
And what is life without honor?
And what is death without shame?'
He looked on the mother who bore him
And her smile was splendid to see;
He hid his face with a bitter cry,
But never a word said he.
'Son of my body -- be silent!
My days at the best are few,
And I shall know how to give them,
Son of my heart, for you!'
He shivered, set teeth, kept silence:
With never a plaint or cry
The women were slain before him,
And he stood and he saw them die.
Then they brought his lovely beloved,
Desire of his heart and eyes.
'Say where your men are hidden,
Or say that your sweetheart dies.'
She threw her arms about him,
She laid her lips to his cheek:
'Speak! for my sake who love you!
Love, for our love's sake, speak!'
His eyes are burning and shining
With the fire of immortal disgrace --
Christ! walk with him in the furnace
And strengthen his soul for a space!
Long he looked at his sweetheart
His eyes grew tender and wet;
Closely he held her to him,
His lips to her lips were set.

'See! I am young! I love you!
I am not ready to die!
One word makes us happy for ever,
Together, you and I.'
Her arms round his neck were clinging,
Her lips his cold lips caressed;
He suddenly flung her from him,
And folded his arms to his breast.
She wept, she shrieked, she struggled,
She cursed him in God's name,
For the woe of her early dying,
And for her dying's shame.
And still he stood, and his silence
Like fire was burning him through,
Then the muskets spoke once, through his silence,
And she was silent too.
They turned to torture him further,
If further might be -- in vain;
He had held his peace in that threefold hell,
And he never spoke again:
The end of the uttermost anguish
The soul of the man could bear,
Was the madhouse where tyrants bury
The broken shells of despair.

By the heaven renounced in her service,
By the hell thrice braved for her sake,
By the years of madness and silence,
By the heart that her enemies brake;
By the young life's promise ruined,
By the years of too living death,
By the passionate self-devotion,
And the absolute perfect faith;
By the thousands who know such anguish,
And share such divine renown,
Who have borne them bravely in battle,
And won the conqueror's crown;
By the torments her children have suffered,
By the blood that her martyrs will give,
By the deaths men have died at her altars,
By these shall our Liberty live!
In the silence of tears, in the burden
Of the wrongs we some day will repay,
Live the brothers who died in all ages
For the Freedom we live for to-day!







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