The Challenge

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow * Track #155 On The Complete Poetical Works of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Download "The Challenge"

Album The Complete Poetical Works of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

ALBUM

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

The Challenge by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Performed by

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

The Challenge Annotated

I have a vague remembrance
&nbsp Of a story, that is told
In some ancient Spanish legend
&nbsp Or chronicle of old.

It was when brave King Sanchez
&nbsp Was before Zamora slain,
And his great besieging army
&nbsp Lay encamped upon the plain.

Don Diego de Ordonez
&nbsp Sallied forth in front of all,
And shouted loud his challenge
&nbsp To the warders on the wall.

All the people of Zamora,
&nbsp Both the born and the unborn,
As traitors did he challenge
&nbsp With taunting words of scorn.

The living, in their houses,
&nbsp And in their graves, the dead!
And the waters of their rivers,
&nbsp And their wine, and oil, and bread!

There is a greater army,
&nbsp That besets us round with strife,
A starving, numberless army,
&nbsp At all the gates of life.

The poverty-stricken millions
&nbsp Who challenge our wine and bread,
And impeach us all as traitors,
&nbsp Both the living and the dead.
And whenever I sit at the banquet,
&nbsp Where the feast and song are high,
Amid the mirth and the music
&nbsp I can hear that fearful cry.
And hollow and haggard faces
&nbsp Look into the lighted hall,
And wasted hands are extended
&nbsp To catch the crumbs that fall.

For within there is light and plenty,
&nbsp And odors fill the air;
But without there is cold and darkness,
&nbsp And hunger and despair.

And there in the camp of famine,
&nbsp In wind and cold and rain,
Christ, the great Lord of the army,
&nbsp Lies dead upon the plain!

Your Gateway to High-Quality MP3, FLAC and Lyrics

― DownloadMP3FLAC.com ―

Support: [email protected]