--On all the desolations he hath wrought, --On all the passioned hatreds he hath taught, --On all Thy great hopes he hath brought to nought;-- --Man rending man with ruthless bitterness, --Blasting Thine image into nothingness, --Hounding Thy innocents to awful deaths, And worse than deaths! Happy the dead, who sped Before the torturers their lust had fed! --On Thy Christ crucified afresh each day, --On all the horrors of War's grim red way. And ever, in Thy solemn midnight skies, Those myriad, sleepless, vast accusing eyes,-- _Watching, watching, watching all below, And man in all his wilfulness for woe._
Dear Lord!-- When in our troubled hearts we ponder this, We can but wonder at Thy wrath delayed,-- We can but wonder that Thy hand is stayed,-- We can but wonder at Thy sufferance Of man, whom Thou in Thine own image made, When he that image doth so sore degrade!
If Thou shouldst blot us out without a word, Our stricken souls must say we had incurred Just punishment. Warnings we lacked not, warnings oft and clear, But in our arrogance we gave no ear To Thine admonishment. And yet,--and yet! O Lord, we humbly pray,-- Put back again Thy righteous Judgment Day! Have patience with us yet a while, until Through these our sufferings we learn Thy Will.
An inconclusive peace!-- A peace that would be no peace-- Naught but a treacherous truce for breeding Of a later, greater, baser-still betrayal!-- "No!" ... The spirits of our myriad valiant dead, Who died to make peace sure and life secure, Thunder one mighty cry of righteous indignation,-- One vast imperative, unanswerable "No!" ... "Not for that, not for that, did we die!"-- They cry;-- "--To give fresh life to godless knavery! --To forge again the chains of slavery Such as humanity has never known! We gave our lives to set Life free, Loyally, willingly gave we, Lest on our children, and on theirs, Should come like misery. And now, from our souls' heights and depths, We cry to you,--"Beware, Lest you defraud us of one smallest atom of the price Of this our sacrifice! One fraction less than that full liberty, Which comes of righteous and enduring peace, Will be betrayal of your trust,-- Betrayal of your race, the world, and God."