Volume I Part 13 (1/2)

The angel sank his head:

”Word from the nations of the East and West,”

He moaned, ”that blood is best.

The patriot prayers of either half of earth, Hear Thou, and judge their worth.

Out of the obscene seas of slaughter, hear, First, the first nation's prayer: '_O G.o.d, deliver Thy people. Let Thy sword Destroy our enemies, Lord!_'

”Pure as the first, as pa.s.sionate in trust That their own cause is just; Puppets as fond in those dark hands of greed; As fervent in their creed; As blindly moved, as utterly betrayed, As urgent for Thine aid; Out of the obscene seas of slaughter, hear The second nation's prayer: '_O G.o.d, deliver Thy people. Let Thy sword Destroy our enemies, Lord._'

”Over their slaughtered children, one great cry From either enemy!

From either host, thigh-deep in filth and shame, One prayer, one and the same; Out of the obscene seas of slaughter, hear, From East and West, one prayer: '_O G.o.d, deliver Thy people. Let Thy sword Destroy our enemies, Lord._'”

Then, on the Cross of His creative pain, G.o.d bowed His head again.

Then, East and West, over all seas and lands, Out-stretched His pierced hands.

”And yet,” Sandalphon whispered, ”men deny The Eternal Calvary.”

THE ORIGIN OF LIFE

[_Written in answer to certain scientific p.r.o.nouncements_]

I

_In the beginning?_--Slowly grope we back Along the narrowing track, Back to the deserts of the world's pale prime, The mire, the clay, the slime; And then ... what then? Surely to something less; Back, back, to Nothingness!

II

You dare not halt upon that dwindling way!

There is no gulf to stay Your footsteps to the last. Go back you must!

Far, far below the dust, Descend, descend! Grade by dissolving grade, We follow, unafraid!

Dissolve, dissolve this moving world of men Into thin air--and then?

III

O pioneers, O warriors of the Light, In that abysmal night, Will you have courage, then, to rise and tell Earth of this miracle?

Will you have courage, then, to bow the head, And say, when all is said--

”Out of this Nothingness arose our thought!

This blank abysmal Nought Woke, and brought forth that lighted City street, Those towers, that armoured fleet?” ...

IV