How Long?

     How long shall the turbid river
          Or crime and misery flow
From the courts of the gay gin-palace
That flash with the crystal chalice,
     And the fated dens below
          Where the tattered man-rags throng?
     How long shall they pour down woe?
          How long, O Lord! how long?

     How long shall our blameless children
          Be doomed to a life of shame,
That wealth upbuilt on our ruin
May grow with their dark undoing
     In the blighting of heart and name?
          This reign of remorseless wrong,
     How long shall its sceptre flame?
          How long, O Lord! how long?

     How long shall the wife go moaning
          In depths of a dumb despair,
That the gold her torturer proffers
May come to the nation’s coffers
     With the rust of murder there?
          Oh! the weak are crushed by the strong;
     Till the heavens shall hear their prayer
          How long, O Lord! how long?

     How long can we dare the justice
          Of God, who pities the poor,
And still have hope in his mercies
While the widow’s tongueless curses
     Call down on the evil-doer
          The doom of his heartless wrong?
     How long is a crime secure?
          How long, O Lord! how long?