W. FORCE STEAD
(QUEEN’S)
THE BURDEN OF BABYLON[A]
“It is in the soul that things happen.”
[A] The lyrics from “The Burden of Babylon” appeared in Oxford Poetry, 1919. The present editors have decided to reprint them with their context.
Scene: An upper chamber in the Palace of the King of Babylon. Dusk on a hot summer’s evening. The voice of one singing far off beyond the palace-gardens is heard vaguely from time to time. The King is sitting by an open window.
The King of Babylon
SINCE I am Babylon, I am the world.
The windy heavens and the rainy skies
Attend the earth in humble servitude.
And I am Babylon, I am the world:
The heavens and their powers attend on me.
The Voice of One Crying in the Night
Babylon, the glory of the Kingdoms,
And the Chaldee’s excellency,
Is become as Sodom and Gomorrah,
Whom God overthrew by the Sea.