I’ll show it, thankfully, and, if I do,
I can go gaily, gladly to my grave
As one who treads a quickstep of her youth.
See, children, that strange figure, Soul of Man,
In bonds to our arch enemy and his?
He is our friend, and all our life would share
If we would only take him for our own.
There is no morning made by sun and sea
And towering mountains, larksong, flower breath
And rapture, but his coming into it
Can give a finer and diviner joy.
There is no darkness, damp and fraught with death,
Down-bearing, stifling, but his coming makes
A rift of light, an easement of the strain.
Now Mars, his foe, is held in ugly sleep,
Full-fed on thin, raw flesh of women’s babes,
Deep drunken on the sap of many hearts—
Be not deceived, for he will wake again,
Unless ye learn of this good Soul of Man
How to defy this Mars, and get you peace.
Children, commend you to the Soul of Man.
A MAN
How can we free you, free you, Soul of Man?
SOUL OF MAN
I tremble—for my hour of joy is near....
Ah, can it be that I shall rise at last,
Gay winged and glorious with the rising sun,
To hover where mankind shall bloom anew
In The World Field where only stubble was?
Hearken! For now, together ye must go,
Not here a few and there a few, but all,
And hale him forth, this monster butcher, now,
While he is full and has no lust to feed,
Yes, hale him forth into the light and look,
And looking, know him truly as he is.
If for that look he wake, defy his power,
For your own sakes fight one more fight for peace.
A MAN
Alas, we are too weak for this god Mars,
And some of us have known him all too well.
SOUL OF MAN
Who does my bidding has no sense of fear—
For all the stars will shine into his night
And all the winds acclaim him to the end.
And this was true of Socrates and Christ,
Of Lincoln and of all great harvesters
In The World Field. It shall be so for you
On the same terms of brave obedience.
Do ye my bidding and ye shall be free
And I, to live and grow with you, forever.
(The people talk together in twos and threes. Enter Capital and Labor, two lean cripples supporting one another, followed by Flip, who is wearing deep mourning.)