<h2><SPAN name="page54"></SPAN><span class="pagenum"></span>THE PÆAN OF PEACE</h2>
<p class="poetry">With ever some wrong to be righting,<br/>
With self ever seeking for place,<br/>
The world has been striving and fighting<br/>
Since man was evolved out of space.<br/>
Bold history into dark regions<br/>
His torchlight has fearlessly cast,<br/>
He shows us tribes warring in legions,<br/>
In jungles of ages long passed.</p>
<p class="poetry">Religion, forgetting her station,<br/>
Forgetting her birthright from God,<br/>
Set nation to warring with nation<br/>
And scattered dissension abroad.<br/>
Dear creeds have made men kill each other,<br/>
Fair faith has bred hate and despair,<br/>
And brother has battled with brother<br/>
Because of a difference in prayer.</p>
<p class="poetry">But earth has grown wiser and kinder,<br/>
For man is evolving a soul:<br/>
From wars of an age that was blinder,<br/>
We rise to a peace-girdled goal.<br/>
<SPAN name="page55"></SPAN><span class="pagenum"></span>Where once
men would murder in treason<br/>
And slaughter each other in hordes,<br/>
They now meet together and reason,<br/>
With thoughts for their weapons, not swords.</p>
<p class="poetry">The brute in humanity dwindles<br/>
And lessens as time speeds along,<br/>
And the spark of Divinity kindles<br/>
And blazes up brightly and strong.<br/>
The seer can behold in the distance<br/>
The race that shall people the world—<br/>
Strong men of a godlike existence<br/>
Unarmed, and with war banners furled.</p>
<p class="poetry">No longer the bloodthirsty savage<br/>
Man’s vast spirit strength shall unfold;<br/>
And tales of red warfare and ravage<br/>
Shall seem like ghost stories of old.<br/>
For the booming of guns and the rattle<br/>
Of carnage and conflict shall cease,<br/>
And the bugle-call, leading to battle,<br/>
Shall change to a pæan of peace.</p>
<div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />
1 of 2
2 of 2
Previous
Next
Update Required
To play the media you will need to either update your browser to a recent version or update your Flash plugin.