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I. O KEEPER of the Sacred Key, | |
| And the Great Seal of Destiny, | |
| Whose eye is the blue canopy, | |
| Look down upon the warring world, and tell us what the end will be. | |
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| “Lo, through the wintry atmosphere, | 5 |
| On the white bosom of the sphere, | |
| A cluster of five lakes appear; | |
| And all the land looks like a couch, or warrior’s shield, or sheeted bier. | |
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| “And on that vast and hollow field, | |
| With both lips closed and both eyes sealed, | 10 |
| A mighty Figure is revealed,— | |
| Stretched at full length, and stiff and stark, as in the hollow of a shield. | |
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| “The winds have tied the drifted snow | |
| Around the face and chin; and lo, | |
| The sceptred Giants come and go, | 15 |
| And shake their shadowy crowns and say: ‘We always feared it would be so!’ | |
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| “She came of an heroic race: | |
| A giant’s strength, a maiden’s grace, | |
| Like two in one seem to embrace, | |
| And match, and bend, and thorough-blend, in her colossal form and face. | 20 |
| |
| “Where can her dazzling falchion be? | |
| One hand is fallen in the sea; | |
| The Gulf Stream drifts it far and free; | |
| And in that hand her shining brand gleams from the depths resplendently. | |
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| “And by the other, in its rest, | 25 |
| The starry banner of the West | |
| Is clasped forever to her breast; | |
| And of her silver helmet, lo, a soaring eagle is the crest. | |
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| “And on her brow, a softened light, | |
| As of a star concealed from sight | 30 |
| By some thin veil of fleecy white, | |
| Or of the rising moon behind the raining vapors of the night. | |
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| “The Sisterhood that was so sweet, | |
| The Starry System sphered complete, | |
| Which the mazed Orient used to greet, | 35 |
| The Four-and-Thirty fallen Stars glimmer and glitter at her feet. | |
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| “And over her,—and over all, | |
| For panoply and coronal,— | |
| The mighty Immemorial, | |
| And everlasting Canopy and Starry Arch and Shield of All. | 40 |
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II. “Three cold, bright moons have marched and wheeled; | |
| And the white cerement that revealed | |
| A Figure stretched upon a Shield, | |
| Is turned to verdure; and the Land is now one mighty battle-field. | |
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| “And lo, the children which she bred, | 45 |
| And more than all else cherishèd, | |
| To make them true in heart and head, | |
| Stand face to face, as mortal foes, with their swords crossed above the dead. | |
| |
| “Each hath a mighty stroke and stride: | |
| One true,—the more that he is tried; | 50 |
| The other dark and evil-eyed;— | |
| And by the hand of one of them, his own dear mother surely died! | |
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| “A stealthy step, a gleam of hell,— | |
| It is the simple truth to tell,— | |
| The Son stabbed and the Mother fell: | 55 |
| And so she lies, all mute and pale, and pure and irreproachable! | |
| |
| “And then the battle-trumpet blew; | |
| And the true brother sprang and drew | |
| His blade to smite the traitor through; | |
| And so they clashed above the bier, and the Night sweated bloody dew. | 60 |
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| “And all their children, far and wide, | |
| That are so greatly multiplied, | |
| Rise up in frenzy and divide; | |
| And choosing, each whom he will serve, unsheathe the sword and take their side. | |
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| “And in the low sun’s bloodshot rays, | 65 |
| Portentous of the coming days, | |
| The Two great Oceans blush and blaze, | |
| With the emergent continent between them, wrapt in crimson haze. | |
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| “Now whichsoever stand or fall, | |
| As God is great, and man is small, | 70 |
| The Truth shall triumph over all: | |
| Forever and forevermore, the Truth shall triumph over all! | |
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III. “I see the champion sword-strokes flash; | |
| I see them fall and hear them clash; | |
| I hear the murderous engines crash; | 75 |
| I see a brother stoop to loose a foeman-brother’s bloody sash. | |
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| “I see the torn and mangled corse, | |
| The dead and dying heaped in scores, | |
| The headless rider by his horse, | |
| The wounded captive bayoneted through and through without remorse. | 80 |
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| “I hear the dying sufferer cry, | |
| With his crushed face turned to the sky, | |
| I see him crawl in agony | |
| To the foul pool, and bow his head into bloody slime, and die. | |
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| “I see the assassin crouch and fire, | 85 |
| I see his victim fall,—expire; | |
| I see the murderer creeping nigher | |
| To strip the dead. He turns the head,—the face! The son beholds his sire! | |
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| “I hear the curses and the thanks; | |
| I see the mad charge on the flanks, | 90 |
| The rents, the gaps, the broken ranks, | |
| The vanquished squadrons driven headlong down the river’s bridgeless banks. | |
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| “I see the death-gripe on the plain, | |
| The grappling monsters on the main, | |
| The tens of thousands that are slain, | 95 |
| And all the speechless suffering and agony of heart and brain. | |
| |
| “I see the dark and bloody spots, | |
| The crowded rooms and crowded cots, | |
| The bleaching bones, the battle blots,— | |
| And writ on many a nameless grave, a legend of forget-me-nots. | 100 |
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| “I see the gorgèd prison-den, | |
| The dead line and the pent-up pen, | |
| The thousands quartered in the fen, | |
| The living-deaths of skin and bone that were the goodly shapes of men. | |
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| “And still the bloody Dew must fall! | 105 |
| And His great Darkness with the Pall | |
| Of His dread Judgment cover all, | |
| Till the Dead Nation rise Transformed by Truth to triumph over all!” | |
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| “And Last—and Last I see—The Dead.” | |
| Thus saith the Keeper of the Key, | 110 |
| And the Great Seal of Destiny, | |
| Whose eye is the blue canopy, | |
| And leaves the Pall of His great Darkness over all the Land and Sea. | |
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