Though we have warred with doubts for deeds,
Our fortresses and faiths decay,
Our altars rot with canker creeds—
Thou art forever and to-day;
No sacrifice averts thy frown,
No worship brings thy blessing down.
Far as the East is from the West,
Thy graven smile this curse hath cast—
Thy vengeance is our own unrest,
Our future is a people’s past.
The blows that on thine image fall
Are blows that smite the God of all.
THE VISION OF HELL
I died and passed from earth and went my way,
I trod the starry gulf from sphere to sphere,
I felt the breath of God upon my brow
As I drew near.
I paused above Infinity’s abyss,
Scanning the upward path my spirit trod;
A million silver planets spun between
The earth and God.
Yet, scarlet on the ether’s inky waves,
The crooked orbit of the earth was cast;
Dark silhouettes against that solemn light,
Its countless creatures passed.
I saw those mortal shadows stumble on,
Rising in anguish, passing in a breath,
Blind atoms, treading their predestined doom
From birth to death.
Upon the smiling mask that Nature wears,
Was writ the blasphemy of human wills;
I saw man’s bloody footprint on the shore,
His hand upon the hills.
I heard his laughter as he passed along,
I heard the mortal boast immortal breath;
I saw the earth in tragic irony,
Plunge to its death.
Then low into Jehovah’s listening ear
I spoke: “O God of Gods, the life you gave
Is but a lying travesty, whose lie
Ends in the grave.