<html xmlns:tei="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0"><body><h1 align="" class="head"> PART IV</h1><h1 align="" class="head">i</h1><div class="stanza"><p class="line">SPAWN</p><p class="line">Of a monstrous dawn</p><p class="line">Bleary and blind,</p><p class="line">Spindrift and spume</p><p class="line">Adrift in the gloom</p><p class="line">Torn from the surf of the sun</p><p class="line">As by teeth of a wind,</p><p class="line">So was the Earth begot and begun--</p><p class="line">Earth and mankind.</p></div><h1 align="" class="head">ii</h1><div class="stanza"><p class="line">Still in our Armageddon burn the old creative fires.</p><p class="line">Still with a sword, a flame, a dream. Life works its</p><p class="line">fierce desires,</p><p class="line">Still the world is smelted and wrought as in an athanor--</p><p class="line">Swelters and sweals in the roaring blast of the furnaces of War</p><p class="line">But how can we whose paltry life is pent in a petty hour</p><p class="line">How can we in faith foresee that Hate in Love will flower?</p><p class="line">How can we know what the fiery Woe smelting the bloody clay</p><p class="line">Moulds and fashions, with pains and passions, for æons as far away</p><p class="line">As the lava and lime of bygone time when the young Earth panted flame,</p><p class="line">And out of its wondrous thund'rous heart the burning mountains came?</p><p class="line">How can we know that the soul will grow? Seen have we the past</p><p class="line">Seen have we the slaggy scree in a blazing furnace cast</p><p class="line">Seen have we the fingers of flame, and water, and tempest mould</p><p class="line">Things as a lily petal fine, as a granite mountain vast;</p><p class="line">Seen have we a filmy cloud in voids of space unfold</p><p class="line">As sapphire seas, and emerald trees, and meadows of yellow gold.</p></div><h1 align="" class="head">iii</h1><div class="stanza"><p class="line">We who have seen white Peace come forth thro' the fiery gates of Strife,</p><p class="line">We who have seen wise Death at work at the magic loom of Life,</p><p class="line">We who have seen the living bones of our living bodies built</p><p class="line">Of the porcelain shells of the dainty dead piled in the deep-sea silt,</p><p class="line">We who have seen the atoms dance into bird, and beast,and flower,</p><p class="line">How shall we doubt Death's Wisdom, how shall we doubt Love's power?</p><p class="line">Out of the fiery tumult there thrilled the vibrant creative Word,</p><p class="line">Out of the moaning thunder there leapt the joyous lilt of a bird,</p><p class="line">Out of the lurid lightning there shone the light of a woman's eyes</p><p class="line">And we know tho' Death may come and go yet Beauty never dies.</p></div><h1 align="" class="head">iv</h1><div class="stanza"><p class="line">Bodies and souls from a furnace came, and lo, in a furnace still</p><p class="line">War is moulding the human heart, smelting the human will.</p><p class="line">Things of the spirit, things of the mind, these are the things at stake.</p><p class="line">Not bodies only but faiths and creeds the bomb and the bullet break,</p><p class="line">Not mortals only but mortal sins the fire and the shrapnel slay</p><p class="line">And aspirations, ideals, hopes perish and pass away.</p><p class="line">These are not swords but living souls that clash in the trenches there</p><p class="line">Not battle-planes, but battle-dreams that fight in the azure air.</p><p class="line">Foolish may be our war-desires, blundering, blind our aims</p><p class="line">But still the shoddy and sham of life are burned in the battle flames.</p><p class="line">By tempest, by fire, by talons and teeth, by war, and disease and lust</p><p class="line">The hand of Death and the hand of Life have wrought at our wondrous dust</p><p class="line">But ever above, the hand of Love our destiny controls</p><p class="line">Moulding to beauty and to truth our bodies and our souls.</p></div><h1 align="" class="head">v</h1><div class="stanza"><p class="line">But why should we destroy</p><p class="line">A body like a temple full of joy</p><p class="line">A temple yea, a Hecatompuloi,</p><p class="line">With golden gates</p><p class="line">Mighty and broad,</p><p class="line">Made not for little Fears and Hates,</p><p class="line">But for the fiery Chariots of God.</p><p class="line">Why must we slay? We know not why.</p><p class="line">With holy pleas we go to kill;</p><p class="line">With noble aims we go to die;</p><p class="line">But ever still,</p><p class="line">Behind our dreams, behind our will,</p><p class="line">There work inevitable Fates</p><p class="line">Whose far desires our swords fulfil.</p><p class="line">We know not why!</p><p class="line">Our words are vain!</p><p class="line">No gleaming words can glorify</p><p class="line">So much of sin so much of pain.</p><p class="line">But we are driven by the Soul</p><p class="line">That with his Beauty maketh whole</p><p class="line">Even the wounded and the slain.</p></div><h1 align="" class="head">vi</h1><div class="stanza"><p class="line">Caæsar and Tamurlaine and Rameses</p><p class="line">Martel the Hammer, Attila the Scourge,</p><p class="line">Sardanapalus and Miltiades,</p><p class="line">Cyrus, Sennacherib, yea all of these</p><p class="line">Were but the surge</p><p class="line">Behind the urge</p><p class="line">Of boundless seas,</p><p class="line">Were but the ripple and the spray</p><p class="line">Of far-away</p><p class="line">Infinities.</p><p class="line">That which they did they know not, neither knew</p><p class="line">What fair far things they fashioned as they slew,</p><p class="line">But Death and Life were wise,</p><p class="line">With prudent prescient eyes,</p><p class="line">And still eternally Man's spirit grew,</p><p class="line">And still the Lord,</p><p class="line">Keeping a watch and ward,</p><p class="line">Shapes man's immortal soul by man's own foolish sword.</p></div><h1 align="" class="head">vii</h1><div class="stanza"><p class="line">Cause and cause behind cause</p><p class="line">Root and root beyond root</p><p class="line">Laws and laws behind laws</p><p class="line">Ripen war's bloody fruit</p><p class="line">But the bloody ripened fruit of the tree of Strife</p><p class="line">In a core of love has the seed of eternal Life.</p><p class="line">These are the throes</p><p class="line">That make the rose,</p><p class="line">These are the precious pangs of birth,</p><p class="line">These are the woes</p><p class="line">Whence ever grows</p><p class="line">The myriad Beauty of the Earth.</p></div><h1 align="" class="head">viii</h1><div class="stanza"><p class="line">O seismic souls of men, the shaken world</p><p class="line">Won peace and beauty after wild turmoil.</p><p class="line">The flowers their silken bannerets unfurled,</p><p class="line">The meadows comforted the tortured soil;</p><p class="line">And now while still the craters trickle blood,</p><p class="line">While still the ground is scourged by fiery rains.</p><p class="line">The cornflowers and the poppies burst in bud</p><p class="line">From the warm ichor of Life's genial veins;</p><p class="line">And in the ulcerous gashes of the shells</p><p class="line">In fœtid hells,</p><p class="line">In leprous thickets full of death and shame,</p><p class="line">Twinkle the starwort, and the pimpernels,</p><p class="line">And gorse, and charlock, and laburnum flame;</p><p class="line">And while the raucous cannon belch and roar,</p><p class="line">In sudden silences amid the thunder</p><p class="line">We hear the skylarks singing as they soar</p><p class="line">Of beauty and of wonder;</p><p class="line">And in the trenches, cheek by jowl with Death,</p><p class="line">(O heart of Youth indomitably strong!)</p><p class="line">We hear the muddy boys with merry breath</p><p class="line">Chorus a mirthful song.</p></div><h1 align="" class="head">ix</h1><div class="stanza"><p class="line">And all these cataclysms of the soul</p><p class="line">Will end in light, and harmony, and peace :</p><p class="line">The battle-thunder will no longer roll,</p><p class="line">The roar of guns will cease.</p><p class="line">Only the embattled legions of the mind</p><p class="line">Spirit with spirit will in love contend</p><p class="line">To comprehend</p><p class="line">The Soul behind</p><p class="line">Beauty and Power--</p><p class="line">The Love that sighs in every wind</p><p class="line">And buds in every flower.</p></div><h1 align="" class="head">x</h1><div class="stanza"><p class="line">Time is so brief, Eternity so long,</p><p class="line">Life is so low, Infinity so high,</p><p class="line">Our bodies are so weak, and Death so strong,</p><p class="line">So soon we wither and so soon we die,</p><p class="line">That only things of spirit will endure</p><p class="line">And love itself only of Love is sure.</p><p class="line">Yet if we clutch the Eternity in Time</p><p class="line">The Infinity that lurks in finite things--</p><p class="line">If still we soar and still we climb</p><p class="line">With wounded feet and weary wings</p><p class="line">Still higher in the realm of thought--</p><p class="line">If we have agonized and fought</p><p class="line">For Truth and Beauty day by day</p><p class="line">The little things that we have wrought</p><p class="line">Will never fade and die away</p><p class="line">But grow and spread</p><p class="line">As from the dead</p><p class="line">Evolved our bodies' magic clay.</p></div><h1 align="" class="head">xi</h1><div class="stanza"><p class="line">O, brave the banners flowing</p><p class="line">Inscribed with holy names,</p><p class="line">O, bravely men are going</p><p class="line">Into the battle-flames!</p><p class="line">And bravely men have striven</p><p class="line">For this or that high prize</p><p class="line">Yet they are drawn and driven</p><p class="line">To ends they have not wrought for</p><p class="line">To good they have not sought for</p><p class="line">To goals they have not fought for,</p><p class="line">By Love that never dies--</p><p class="line">By the same Love impassioned</p><p class="line">That filled the Earth with fire,</p><p class="line">And fiercely finely fashioned</p><p class="line">In Beauty its Desire--</p><p class="line">By the same Love whose sighing</p><p class="line">Is Pity's gentle breath</p><p class="line">By the same Love who dying</p><p class="line">Conquered Death.</p></div><h1 align="" class="head">xii</h1><div class="stanza"><p class="line">Not conquests of great cities</p><p class="line">Not mastery of great seas</p><p class="line">But little loves and pities</p><p class="line">Will be their victories,</p><p class="line">Yea little loves and pities</p><p class="line">And children on their knees--</p><p class="line">Fair children to inherit</p><p class="line">New soarings of the soul,</p><p class="line">New faculties of spirit,</p><p class="line">As centuries unroll,--</p><p class="line">Not arrogant ambitions</p><p class="line">For Empire rich and broad,</p><p class="line">But ever brighter Visions</p><p class="line">Of the wise heart of God.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">From every crater bloody</p><p class="line">Will bloom a kindly thought;</p><p class="line">From every tortured body</p><p class="line">Some beauty will be wrought.</p><p class="line">Love will again awaken,</p><p class="line">Truth will regain her crown;</p><p class="line">Men's seismic souls have shaken</p><p class="line">A million Dagons down.</p></div></body></html> · Great War