Guards Came Through and other Poems

<h2><SPAN class="pagenum" name="Page_55" title="55"> </SPAN>THE BIGOT</h2> <div class="poetry"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="line"><span class="small-caps">The</span> foolish Roman fondly thought</div> <div class="line indent2">That gods must be the same to all,</div> <div class="line">Each alien idol might be brought</div> <div class="line indent2">Within their broad Pantheon Hall.</div> <div class="line">The vision of a jealous Jove</div> <div class="line indent2">Was far above their feeble ken;</div> <div class="line">They had no Lord who gave them love,</div> <div class="line indent2">But scowled upon all other men.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="line">But in our dispensation bright,</div> <div class="line indent2">What noble progress have we made!</div> <div class="line">We know that we are in the light,</div> <div class="line indent2">And outer races in the shade.</div> <SPAN class="pagenum" name="Page_56" title="56"> </SPAN> <div class="line">Our kindly creed ensures us this&mdash;</div> <div class="line indent2">That Turk and infidel and Jew</div> <div class="line">Are safely banished from the bliss</div> <div class="line indent2">That's guaranteed to me and you.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="line">The Roman mother understood</div> <div class="line indent2">That, if the babe upon her breast</div> <div class="line">Untimely died, the gods were good,</div> <div class="line indent2">And the child's welfare manifest.</div> <div class="line">With tender guides the soul would go</div> <div class="line indent2">And there, in some Elysian bower,</div> <div class="line">The tiny bud plucked here below</div> <div class="line indent2">Would ripen to the perfect flower.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="line">Poor simpleton! Our faith makes plain</div> <div class="line indent2">That, if no blest baptismal word</div> <div class="line">Has cleared the babe, it bears the stain</div> <div class="line indent2">Which faithless Adam had incurred.</div> <SPAN class="pagenum" name="Page_57" title="57"> </SPAN> <div class="line">How philosophical an aim!</div> <div class="line indent2">How wise and well-conceived a plan</div> <div class="line">Which holds the new-born babe to blame</div> <div class="line indent2">For all the sins of early man!</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="line">Nay, speak not of its tender grace,</div> <div class="line indent2">But hearken to our dogma wise:</div> <div class="line">Guilt lies behind that dimpled face,</div> <div class="line indent2">And sin looks out from gentle eyes.</div> <div class="line">Quick, quick, the water and the bowl!</div> <div class="line indent2">Quick with the words that lift the load!</div> <div class="line">Oh, hasten, ere that tiny soul</div> <div class="line indent2">Shall pay the debt old Adam owed!</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="line">The Roman thought the souls that erred</div> <div class="line indent2">Would linger in some nether gloom,</div> <div class="line">But somewhere, sometime, would be spared</div> <div class="line indent2">To find some peace beyond the tomb.</div> <SPAN class="pagenum" name="Page_58" title="58"> </SPAN> <div class="line">In those dark halls, enshadowed, vast,</div> <div class="line indent2">They flitted ever, sad and thin,</div> <div class="line">Mourning the unforgotten past</div> <div class="line indent2">Until they shed the taint of sin.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="line">And Pluto brooded over all</div> <div class="line indent2">Within that land of night and fear,</div> <div class="line">Enthroned in some dark Judgment Hall,</div> <div class="line indent2">A god himself, reserved, austere.</div> <div class="line">How thin and colourless and tame!</div> <div class="line indent2">Compare our nobler scheme with it,</div> <div class="line">The howling souls, the leaping flame,</div> <div class="line indent2">And all the tortures of the pit!</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="line">Foolish half-hearted Roman hell!</div> <div class="line indent2">To us is left the higher thought</div> <div class="line">Of that eternal torture cell</div> <div class="line indent2">Whereto the sinner shall be brought.</div> <SPAN class="pagenum" name="Page_59" title="59"> </SPAN> <div class="line">Out with the thought that God could share</div> <div class="line indent2">Our weak relenting pity sense,</div> <div class="line">Or ever condescend to spare</div> <div class="line indent2">The wretch who gave Him just offence!</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="line">'Tis just ten thousand years ago</div> <div class="line indent2">Since the vile sinner left his clay,</div> <div class="line">And yet no pity can he know,</div> <div class="line indent2">For as he lies in hell to-day</div> <div class="line">So when ten thousand years have run</div> <div class="line indent2">Still shall he lie in endless night.</div> <div class="line">O God of Love! O Holy One!</div> <div class="line indent2">Have we not read Thy ways aright?</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="line">The godly man in heaven shall dwell,</div> <div class="line indent2">And live in joy before the throne,</div> <div class="line">Though somewhere down in nether hell</div> <div class="line indent2">His wife or children writhe and groan.</div> <SPAN class="pagenum" name="Page_60" title="60"> </SPAN> <div class="line">From his bright Empyrean height</div> <div class="line indent2">He sees the reek from that abyss&mdash;</div> <div class="line">What Pagan ever dreamed a sight</div> <div class="line indent2">So holy and sublime as this!</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="line">Poor foolish folk! Had they begun</div> <div class="line indent2">To weigh the myths that they professed,</div> <div class="line">One hour of reason and each one</div> <div class="line indent2">Would surely stand a fraud confessed.</div> <div class="line">Pretending to believe each deed</div> <div class="line indent2">Of Theseus or of Hercules,</div> <div class="line">With fairy tales of Ganymede,</div> <div class="line indent2">And gods of rocks and gods of trees!</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="line">No, no, had they our purer light</div> <div class="line indent2">They would have learned some saner tale</div> <div class="line">Of Balaam's ass, or Samson's might,</div> <div class="line indent2">Or prophet Jonah and his whale,</div> <SPAN class="pagenum" name="Page_61" title="61"> </SPAN> <div class="line">Of talking serpents and their ways,</div> <div class="line indent2">Through which our foolish parents strayed,</div> <div class="line">And how there passed three nights and days</div> <div class="line indent2">Before the sun or moon was made!</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="line" style="margin-left: 4em; letter-spacing: 1.5em;">&middot; &middot; &middot; &middot;</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="line">O Bigotry, you crowning sin!</div> <div class="line indent2">All evil that a man can do</div> <div class="line">Has earthly bounds, nor can begin</div> <div class="line indent2">To match the mischief done by you&mdash;</div> <div class="line">You, who would force the source of love</div> <div class="line indent2">To play your small sectarian part,</div> <div class="line">And mould the mercy from above</div> <div class="line indent2">To fit your own contracted heart.</div> </div></div> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />