IN ANTITHESIS TO ROSSETTI'S "ON THE REFUSAL
OF AID BETWEEN NATIONS"
Not that the earth is changing, O my God!
Not that her brave democracies take heart
To share, to rule her treasure, to impart
The wine to those who long the wine-press trod;
Not therefore trust we that beneath Thy nod,
Thy silent benediction, even now
In gratitude so many nations bow,
So many poor: not therefore, O my God!
But because living men for dying man
Go to a million deaths, to deal one blow;
And justice speaks one great compassionate tongue;
And nation unto nation calls "One clan
We succourers are, one tribe!" By this we know
Our earth holds confident, steadfast, being young.
"LORD, I OWE THEE A DEATH"
Richard Hooker
(IN TIME OF WAR)
Man pays that debt with new munificence,
Not piecemeal now, not slowly, by the old:
Not grudgingly, by the effaced thin pence,
But greatly and in gold.
REFLECTIONS
(I) IN IRELAND
A mirror faced a mirror: ire and hate
Opposite ire and hate: the multiplied,
The complex charge rejected, intricate,
From side to sullen side;
One plot, one crime, one treachery, nay, one name,
Assumed, denounced, in echoes of replies.
The doubt, exchanged, lit thousands of one flame
Within those mutual eyes.