Collected poems by Vachel Lindsay revised and illustrated edition |
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ABOVE THE BATTLE'S FRONT |
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 | Collected poems by Vachel Lindsay |  |
ABOVE THE BATTLE'S FRONT
St. Francis, Buddha, Tolstoi, and St. John—
Friends, if you four, as pilgrims, hand in hand,
Returned, the hate of earth once more to dare,
And walked upon the water and the land,
Friends, if you four, as pilgrims, hand in hand,
Returned, the hate of earth once more to dare,
And walked upon the water and the land,
If you, with words celestial, stopped these kings
For sober conclave, ere their battle great,
Would they for one deep instant then discern
Their crime, their heart-rot, and their fiend's estate?
For sober conclave, ere their battle great,
Would they for one deep instant then discern
Their crime, their heart-rot, and their fiend's estate?
If you should float above the battle's front,
Pillars of cloud, of fire that does not slay,
Bearing a fifth within your regal train,
The Son of David in his strange array—
Pillars of cloud, of fire that does not slay,
Bearing a fifth within your regal train,
The Son of David in his strange array—
If, in his majesty, he towered toward Heaven,
Would they have hearts to see or understand?
... Nay, for he hovers there tonight, we know,
Thorn-crowned above the water and the land.
Would they have hearts to see or understand?
... Nay, for he hovers there tonight, we know,
Thorn-crowned above the water and the land.
| Collected poems by Vachel Lindsay | |