

This ebook was transcribed by Les Bowler.





                                  SONGS
                                  OF THE
                            ARMY OF THE NIGHT.


                                * * * * *

                                    BY
                              FRANCIS ADAMS.

                                * * * * *

               "_For the cause of Labour all over the Earth_."

                                * * * * *

                             SECOND EDITION.

                                * * * * *

                                 London:
                 WILLIAM REEVES, 185, FLEET STREET, E.C.




TO EDITH.


   "My sweet, my child, through all this night
      Of dark and wind and rain,
   Where thunder crashes, and the light
      Sears the bewildered brain,

   "It is your face, your lips, your eyes
      I see rise up; I hear
   Your voice that sobs and calls and cries,
      Or shrills and mocks at fear.

   "O this that's mine is yours as well,
      For side by side our feet
   Trod through these bitter brakes of hell.
      Take it, my child, my sweet!"




CONTENTS.

                                                                  PAGE
Preface                                                             11
This Book                                                           15
                   SONGS OF THE ARMY OF THE NIGHT.
_Proem_:--"Outside London"                                          18
                         _PART I.--ENGLAND_.
In the Camp                                                         19
"Axiom"                                                             20
Drill                                                               20
Evening Hymn in the Hovels                                          21
In the Street: "Lord Shaftesbury"                                   22
"Liberty"                                                           22
In the Edgware Road                                                 24
To the Girls of the Unions                                          24
Hagar                                                               25
"Why?"                                                              26
A Visitor in the Camp                                               27
"Lord Leitrim"                                                      28
"Anarchism"                                                         28
Belgravia by Night: "Move on!"                                      29
Jesus                                                               29
Parallels for the Pious                                             30
"Prayer"                                                            30
To the Christians                                                   31
"Defeat"                                                            31
To John Ruskin                                                      32
To the Emperor William                                              34
Song of the Dispossessed: "To Jesus"                                34
Art                                                                 35
The Peasants' Revolt                                                35
"Analogy"                                                           37
In Trafalgar Square                                                 37
A Street Fight                                                      37
To a Workman, a would-be Suicide                                    39
Dublin at Dawn                                                      40
The Caged Eagle                                                     41
To Ireland                                                          42
To Charles Parnell                                                  42
An "Assassin"                                                       43
Russia                                                              44
Pere-la-Chaise                                                      45
Aux Ternes                                                          46
"The Truth"                                                         47
To the Sons of Labour                                               48
To the Artists                                                      49
"One among so Many"                                                 50
The New Locksley Hall                                               52
Farewell to the Market: "Susannah and Mary-Jane"                    58
                     _PART II.--HERE AND THERE_.
In the Pit: "Chant of the Firemen"                                  60
A Mahommadan Ship Fireman                                           61
To India                                                            61
To England:
     I.  "There was a time"                                         61
    II