| |
| OH, World-God, give me Wealth!” the Egyptian cried. | |
| His prayer was granted. High as heaven, behold | |
| Palace and Pyramid; the brimming tide | |
| Of lavish Nile washed all his land with gold. | |
| Armies of slaves toiled ant-wise at his feet; | 5 |
| World-circling traffic roared through mart and street; | |
| His priests were gods; his spice-balmed kings enshrined, | |
| Set death at naught in rock-ribbed charnels deep. | |
| Seek Pharaoh’s race to-day, and ye shall find | |
| Rust and the moth, silence and dusty sleep. | 10 |
| |
| “Oh, World-God, give me Beauty!” cried the Greek. | |
| His prayer was granted. All the earth became | |
| Plastic and vocal to his sense; each peak, | |
| Each grove, each stream, quick with Promethean flame, | |
| Peopled the world with imaged grace and light. | 15 |
| The lyre was his, and his the breathing might | |
| Of the immortal marble; his the play | |
| Of diamond-pointed thought and golden tongue | |
| Go seek the sunshine-race, ye find to-day | |
| A broken column and a lute unstrung. | 20 |
| |
| “Oh, World-God, give me Power!” the Roman cried. | |
| His prayer was granted. The vast world was chained | |
| A captive to the chariot of his pride. | |
| The blood of myriad provinces was drained | |
| To feed that fierce, insatiable red heart. | 25 |
| Invulnerably bulwarked every part | |
| With serried legions and with close-meshed Code; | |
| Within, the burrowing worm had gnawed its home; | |
| A roofless ruin stands where once abode | |
| Th’ imperial race of everlasting Rome. | 30 |
| |
| “Oh, Godhead, give me Truth!” the Hebrew cried. | |
| His prayer was granted. He became the slave | |
| Of the Idea, a pilgrim far and wide, | |
| Cursed, hated, spurned, and scourged with none to save. | |
| The Pharaohs knew him, and when Greece beheld, | 35 |
| His wisdom wore the hoary crown of Eld. | |
| Beauty he hath forsworn, and Wealth and Power. | |
| Seek him to-day, and find in every land; | |
| No fire consumes him, neither floods devour; | |
| Immortal through the lamp within his hand. | 40 |
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