286 MARGARET WIDDEMER
��THE WAKENED GOD
The War-god wakened drowsily ;
There were gold chains about his hands.
He said : " And who shall reap my lands And bear the tithes to Death for me ?
"The nations stilled my thunderings; They wearied of my steel despair, The flames from out my burning hair :
Is there an ending of such things?"
Low laughed the Earth, and answered : "When Was any changeless law I gave Changed by my sons intent to save,
By puny pitying hands of men ?
"I feel no ruth for some I bear. . . . The swarming, hungering overflow Of crowded millions, doomed to go.
They must destroy who chained you there.
"For some bright stone or shining praise They stint a million bodies' breath. And sell the women, shamed, to death.
And send the men brief length of days.
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