IMMORTALITY
For Crystal Eastman and Walter G. Fuller
Come, War! Come, mad destruction, come!
Thump with your glum and thundering drum,
Let all shrill-piercing bugles peal,
Waken the angry snarl of steel,
Till men come tumbling at your heel,
Welcoming out of the sky the hell
Of withering bomb and bursting shell,
And the slow-rolling deaths that creep,
Impalpable, along the ground,
Stifling the cannon's sullen sound,
Bringing the final quivering sleep
On blackened land and ruined town
And desolate, deserted sea.
The years' slow progress crumbles down,
As war makes sure his sovereignty.
Thump with your glum and thundering drum,
Let all shrill-piercing bugles peal,
Waken the angry snarl of steel,
Till men come tumbling at your heel,
Welcoming out of the sky the hell
Of withering bomb and bursting shell,
And the slow-rolling deaths that creep,
Impalpable, along the ground,
Stifling the cannon's sullen sound,
Bringing the final quivering sleep
On blackened land and ruined town
And desolate, deserted sea.
The years' slow progress crumbles down,
As war makes sure his sovereignty.
Come, War, best comrade! Swiftly come!
For as you pass, our lips are dumb,
Our bodies stiffen, and grow numb. . . .
And then, and imperceptibly,
What was mankind with all its chatter,
Its thus and so, its futile clatter,
Begins to tremble restlessly,
For as you pass, our lips are dumb,
Our bodies stiffen, and grow numb. . . .
And then, and imperceptibly,
What was mankind with all its chatter,
Its thus and so, its futile clatter,
Begins to tremble restlessly,
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