<html xmlns:tei="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0"><body><h1 align="center" class="head">Iconoclastes</h1><div class="stanza"><p class="line"><span class="smallcaps">Lived</span> in days of old a nation</p><p class="line">Stark and sturdy, valiant-hearted,</p><p class="line">Rich in honest, kindly manhood,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:4%">Rich in tender womanhood;</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">Rich in deft and cunning craftsmen,</p><p class="line">Singers mighty and melodious,</p><p class="line">Thinkers of sublimest stature --</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:4%">Masters of the undaunted mind;</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">Rich -- yea, richest -- in titanic</p><p class="line">Wondrous harmony-compellers,</p><p class="line">Weaving descants world-enthralling,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:4%">Echoes of the voice of God.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">But, alas! and in an evil</p><p class="line">Day for them, this glorious people</p><p class="line">Went a-wandering after idols,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:4%">Went a-worshipping false gods.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">One grim Idol in especial,</p><p class="line">One colossal Moloch-image,</p><p class="line">Moulded of blood-tempered iron,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:4%">They erected in their midst.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">Dark and sinister its aspect,</p><p class="line">Rigid, menacing, inhuman,</p><p class="line">From its swooping helmet-eagle</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:4%">To its trailing sabre-tip.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">Shaggy brows o'erhung and shaded</p><p class="line">Eyes of cynical clairvoyance</p><p class="line">Into all the baser instincts</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:4%">Of the shivering, thrall-bound soul:</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">Stone-blind to the far horizons</p><p class="line">Of the aspiring human spirit:</p><p class="line">Stone-blind to the dawning promise</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:4%">Of a wiser, happier age.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">Rose the bullet-head defiant</p><p class="line">From aggressive, padded shoulders;</p><p class="line">On the breast a steely corslet</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:4%">Bastioned a stony heart.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">Planted firm on mighty jack-boots</p><p class="line">Stood the rugged, rough-hewn image --</p><p class="line">Seven-league jack-boots, swift to trample</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:4%">Homes, and hearts, and plighted faith.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">Once this god -- so ran the legend --</p><p class="line">Led his chosen folk to triumph --</p><p class="line">Triumph, dear-bought, triumph tragic,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:4%">Yet resplendent in its day.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">Whereupon the people, dazzled</p><p class="line">By his blood-red blaze of glory,</p><p class="line">Saw in him a Teuton Saviour,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:4%">Crucifying, not crucified:</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">Made of him an ogre-fetish,</p><p class="line">A cast-iron Mumbo-Jumbo,</p><p class="line">Worshipped in a tortuous ritual</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:4%">Known as <em>Real-Politik</em>.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">Hierarchies of priests before him</p><p class="line">Moved through ponderous <em>Kriegs-Manöver</em>,</p><p class="line">Headed by the Archimandrite</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:4%">Of the far-famed Mailëd Fist.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">O'er the land his spirit brooded:</p><p class="line"><em>Renommieren, Schwadronieren</em></p><p class="line">Were accounted saving graces,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:4%">And heel-clicking <em>Schneidigkeit</em>.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">Year by year, in huge battalions,</p><p class="line">Were the young men of the nation</p><p class="line">At his altar consecrated</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:4%">To a soulless slavery;</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">While on the o'erburdened ocean</p><p class="line">Steel-clad monsters hurtled, thundering,</p><p class="line">Through unhallowed demon-dances,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:4%">To propitiate his ghost.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">Nor on his own people only</p><p class="line">Weighed his worship like a nightmare --</p><p class="line">All the nations needs must pay him</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:4%">Tribute of their youth and strength.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">Every nation at his altar</p><p class="line">Needs must bow in sullen thraldom,</p><p class="line">Pouring tithes of all their treasure</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:4%">Into his insatiate maw.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">Vainly did they murmur, craving</p><p class="line">Some remission of their tribute;</p><p class="line">Still the Archimandrite answered,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:4%">"<em>Real-Politik</em> forbids!"</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">Till at last, in fierce rebellion</p><p class="line">Rose his victims, over-driven,</p><p class="line">Rose against the Archimandrite</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:4%">And his <em>schneidig</em> hierarchy,</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">Saying, "Let us smash the Idol,</p><p class="line">Pulverize the Moloch-image,</p><p class="line">Exorcize the accursëd vampire --</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:4%">From its menace free the world:</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">"Free ourselves, and free the noble,</p><p class="line">Richly dowered, <em>gemütlich</em> nation,</p><p class="line">Doomed by some malign enchantment</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:4%">To this dire idolatry:</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">"Free the workers, thinkers, singers,</p><p class="line">To their saner selves restore them,</p><p class="line">Save their souls, reclaim their genius</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:4%">For the service of mankind."</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">Can we crush the Idol? Never</p><p class="line">Doubt it! for a mightier godhead,</p><p class="line">Ancient, awful, fights on our side,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:4%">And its name is NEMESIS.</p></div><p class="byline">WILLIAM ARCHER</p><em>Daily News, August</em> 15, 1914</body></html> · Great War