That shepherd of spirits, ere long, Man-lift that sorrow-bowed head. The vision dies at its birth. You're merely a butt for our mirth. You're a "sheeny"-and therefore despised And rejected as "scum o' the earth." Countrymen, bend and invoke Mercy for us blasphemers, For that we spat on these marvellous folk, Nations of darers and dreamers, Scions of singers and seers, Our peers, and more than our peers. At the sons of our ancient more-than-peers. Mercy for us who dare despise Men in whose loins our Homer lies; The glory of Titian, the grandeur of Huss; Children in whose frail arms may rest Prophets and singers and saints of the West. Newcomers all from the eastern seas, In the comradeship of an equal birth, In the wealth of the richest bloods of earth. From PASSAGE TO INDIA Passage to India! BY WALT WHITMAN Lo, soul! seest thou not God's purpose from the first? The races, neighbors, to marry and to be given in marriage, The oceans to be cross'd, the distant brought near, THE MAN WITH THE HOE BY EDWIN MARKHAM (Written after seeing Millet's World-Famous Painting of a brutalized toiler) God made man in His own image, in the image of God made He him.-Genesis. Bowed by the weight of centuries he leans The emptiness of ages in his face, And on his back the burden of the world. Is this the Thing the Lord God made and gave To trace the stars and search the heavens for power; Is this the dream He dreamed who shaped the suns There is no shape more terrible than this More tongued with censure of the world's blind greed More filled with signs and portents for the soul— More packt with danger to the universe. What gulfs between him and the seraphim! Plundered, profaned and disinherited, O masters, lords and rulers in all lands, This monstrous thing distorted and soul-quencht? Give back the upward looking and the light; O masters, lords and rulers in all lands, THE SECOND COMING BY NORMAN GALE The Saviour came. With trembling lips He counted Europe's battleships. So much for Calvary!" He said. MERCY (From The Merchant of Venice) BY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE The quality of mercy is not strain'd: Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings; It is enthroned in the hearts of kings, It is an attribute to God himself; And earthly power doth then show likest God's DEDICATION BY JOHN ERSKINE When imperturbable the gentle moon Glides above war and onslaught through the night, On hate contriving horror by its light, When man, for whom the stars were and the skies, Turns beast to rend his fellow, fang and hoof, Shall we not think, with what ironic eyes Nature must look on us and stand aloof? |