CULT
(Looking in another direction through his crystal)
I see it in my glass that he is dead—
(Trade, leaning over Mars, and glancing back at the others maliciously, drops her cigarette on Mars and awakens him. Mars sits up and looks about.)
CULT
(without seeing Mars and going off at right)
By all the initiates, my aura feels
The pressure of the knowledge of his death
Who was the olden enemy. I know all....
(Mars rises and shakes his spear. Exeunt all the others, Capital and Labor in alarm, Religion timidly, Flip with a philosopher’s shrug, Trade laughing contemptuously.)
(The sky grows dark and Mars strides up and down, singing or chanting and shaking his spear.)
MARS
Long have I slept, but now have I awakened,
I, mighty Mars, the lover of the arrow,
I, mighty Mars, the giver of the sabre,
I, mighty Mars, the maker of the shrapnel,
Monarch of heroes, gallantry and death.
I am a spirit of man’s body gendered,
And, in the race, I am for everlasting,
Calling mankind from home and task and kindred,
Making men mad with foaming blood-delight.
Kings I have kissed, with Victory and solace;
Kings I have ruined. Who can stand beside me?
Who is strong to quell me? Let him show his face?
Long have I slept, while Trade, the busy harlot,
Kept her delights for Capital and Labor;
Now let the whirr of singing mills be silent!
Now let the factory whistles hush their voices!
Now let the harvests in the fields be rotted!
Now let the shops be shut, the churches empty,
That I may fill them with my sick and dying—
Mine is dominion over day and night.
Night is at hand, and, in The World Inn feasting
Sitteth mankind, while I am keeping vigil.
Such blood is rich—the sweeter for my drinking—
Yea, I am avid of the fat of babies—
None will I have but such as are the strongest—
Cleanest and truest, proudest, richest, bravest—
(Never a weakling can abide my presence
For I am Mars, and speak the word of death)
Lo! I will call my servants to my colors—
One deed of fury licks a world to ashes—
Bright, blasting winds sweep over croft and hearthside
Leaving life dead. Who comes to challenge me?