Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, ONWARD, by J. M. MANICOFF


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

ONWARD, by                    
First Line: Where are you going, soldiers
Last Line: The lord will lead us through.
Subject(s): Flags; Freedom; Jews; Palestine; War; Zionism; Liberty; Judaism


I

WHERE are you going, soldiers,
With banners and drawn sword?
We're marching East to Palestine
To battle for the Lord!
What captain leads your bands
Along the sandy coasts?
The Mighty One of Israel,
His name is Lord of Hosts!
To Palestine, to Palestine,
The Lord will lead us through—
To blow before the heathen walls
The trumpets of the Jew.

II

What flag is this you carry,
In this your Holy War?
The same our grandsires raised aloft,
The same our fathers bore.
On many a battlefield, intact,
It caught the crimson rain,
For what was woven in God's loom,
No man can rend in twain.
To Palestine, to Palestine
The Lord will lead us through,
To plant upon its mountain-heights
The standard of the Jew.

III

What song is this you're singing?
The same that Israel sang
When Moses led the mighty choir,
And Miriam's timbrel rang.
"To Palestine, to Palestine!"
Both young and old have cried;
"To Palestine, to Palestine!"—
The people's voice replied.
To Palestine, to Palestine,
The Lord will lead us through
To thunder in the usurper's ear
The anthem of the Jew.

IV

When Salem's foes are scattered
And all the path lies free,
What follows next in order?
Our God to that will see.
He'll break the tyrant's sceptre,
He'll build the people's throne—
When half the world is Freedom's,
Then all the world's our own.
To Palestine, to Palestine,
The Lord will lead us through.





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