I yield my breath—yet July yield I not,

Nor shall the names writ deep in blood be razed.
That July wept upon a mother’s breast
Now liveth crowned in oath and solemn blaze.
That dawn the sun arose not in his might;
The trembling heavens reeked of sulphur’d flame.
Upon earth’s bosom, scarlet-lettered bright,
Was graven bold Rebellion’s sacred name.
O brother mine! O pulse within my vein!
Thy crimson tide hath waked a deathless song.
Within our tears doth burning Justice reign,
And grief itself proclaimeth right from wrong.
Let earth be shaken—let the firmament
Resound with thunder, crying, “Justice now!”
Break silence, Heaven, with wrath omnipotent,
And grind oppression ‘neath thy fiery brow.
The child that seeketh still his father’s face,
The mother watching at the voiceless door—
In their dim eyes July hath left its trace,
And massacre doth through their weeping pour.
Behold the street where blood is yet un-dried,
Behold the wall where bullets left their scar—
There was Revolution’s seed espied,
There rose Uprising’s unextinguish’d star.
O Hadi! when thy name upon lips lies,
A tempest rolleth through the trembling breast.
Justice for thee no fleeting mortal cries,
But soul-deep anguish shall not be suppress’d.
Each martyr of that July slumbereth not;
In spectral gaze revengeful fires gleam.
That numbered tale is no mere cipher’d thought—
It burneth in the nation like a dream.
Speak soft—“Remember July”—breathe it low,
And feel the quaking of the tear-bound tongue.
Till judgment’s scales in perfect balance go,
Within our hearts shall righteous flame be hung.
Let Time’s cold walls attend and mark this vow;
Let tyrant thrones bear witness to the cry:
“No Justice—Peace shall never crown thee now!”
Thus beats the nation’s pulse—thus shall it lie.
I yield my life—yet July yield I not;
A mother’s tears shall not be spilt in vain.
The martyrs’ blood within our breasts is wrought—
Shall we not guard it, though through mortal pain?
Nay—life I give, yet memory I deny not.
Till debt of July fully be repaid,
With tears like fire our vigil shall not rot,
And still our oath through ages shall be said:
I yield my life—yet July yield I not.