Poetry Saturday—Wanted

Josiah G. HollandGod 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 cannot 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