 | The poems of Madison Cawein |  |
311
PAGAN
The gods, who could loose and bind
In the long ago,
The gods, who were stern and kind
To men below,
Where shall we seek and find,
Or, finding, know?
In the long ago,
The gods, who were stern and kind
To men below,
Where shall we seek and find,
Or, finding, know?
Where Greece, with king on king,
Dreamed in her halls;
Where Rome kneeled worshipping,
The owl now calls,
And clambering ivies cling,
And the moonbeam falls.
Dreamed in her halls;
Where Rome kneeled worshipping,
The owl now calls,
And clambering ivies cling,
And the moonbeam falls.
They have served, and passed away
From the earth and sky,
And their creeds are a record gray,
Where the passer-by
Reads, “Live and be glad to-day,
For to-morrow ye die.”
From the earth and sky,
And their creeds are a record gray,
Where the passer-by
Reads, “Live and be glad to-day,
For to-morrow ye die.”
312
And shall it be so, indeed,
When we are no more,
That nations to be shall read,—
As we have before,—
In the dust of a Christian Creed,
But pagan lore?
When we are no more,
That nations to be shall read,—
As we have before,—
In the dust of a Christian Creed,
But pagan lore?
| The poems of Madison Cawein | |