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 1919 
 
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THE CHOSEN NATION 
 
 BY 
 
 IRWIN ST. JOHN TUCKER 
 
 TO 
 
 ROBERT MORSS LOVETT 
 
 A SCHOLAR UNAFRAID 
 
 Published by 
 
 THE AUTHOR 
 
 1541 Unity Building, Chicago 
 
 »558 
 
 Copyright, 1919, by Dorothy O'Reilly Tucker 
 
ft^^ 
 
 
 ^OPYRia#IT OFWtf 
 SEP \ \ Ii20 
 
 AUG -7 i«'^ 
 
FOREWORD 
 
 This poem was completed in Judge Landis' court- 
 room in Chicago, during the trial for " conspiracy to 
 obstruct the draft" which resulted in a verdict of 
 "guilty" against myself and four other Socialists; 
 the others being Adolph Germer, national executive 
 secretary of the Socialist Party; J. Louis Engdahl, 
 editor of The American Socialist; William F. Kruse, 
 national secretary of the Young People's Socialist 
 League ; and Victor L. Berger, congressman-elect from 
 Milwaukee. 
 
 The poem contains in condensed form all that I 
 know of history, and likewise my view of the present 
 and hope of the future. Historical references con- 
 tained in it are amplified in my historical lectures, 
 most of which have been published, under the titles 
 following, and may be obtained from this office : 
 
 INTERNATIONALISM: The Problem of the Houir. 
 Five Lectures. 
 
 1. The German Idea: Deutschland Ueber Alles. 
 
 2. The British Idea: Britannia Rules the Wayeg. 
 
 3. The American Idea: Phrases versus Facts. 
 
 4. The Russian Idea: The Proletarian Revolution. 
 
 5. The Labor Idea: History and Future of the Inter- 
 
 national. 
 
4 THE CHOSEN NATION 
 
 THE MARTYR PEOPLES. Six Lectures. 
 
 1. Israel: the Crucible of God. 
 
 2. Serbia: the Valley of Division. 
 
 3. Ireland: the Sorrowful Mother. 
 
 4. Belgium: the Storm Center. 
 
 5. Poland: Land of the Four Eagles. 
 
 6. Armenia: Crucifixion of the Soul. 
 
 IMPERIALISM: The Curse of the World. 
 I. Founders of Imperialism. 
 
 1. Egypt: the United States of the Nile. 
 
 2. Chaldaea: the Strife of the Cities. 
 
 3. Persia: the Spirit of the Mountains. 
 
 4. Greece: the Empire of the Mind. 
 
 5. Rome: the Mistress of the World. 
 
 n. Modem Imperialism^. 
 
 1. France: the Daughter of the Empire. 
 
 2. Islam: the Spirit of the Desert. 
 
 3. Spain: the Shadow of the Moor. 
 
 4. Austria: the House of Hapsburg. 
 
 5. Great Britain: the Empire of Finance. 
 
 By the verdict of " Guilty," delivered on January 
 8, 1919, I ceased to be citizen of the United States, 
 until such time as the farce of a trial, with its per- 
 juries, coercion and bribery of witnesses, and jury 
 carefully handpicked by the prosecution, is declared 
 null and void, and the verdict reversed. 
 
 But I am still, and shall forever remain, a citizen of 
 the International Commonwealth. 
 
 Irwin St. John Tucker. 
 Done on iny Thirty-third Birthday, January 10, 1919. 
 
THE CHOSEN NATION 
 
 L THE ASSEMBLY 
 
 The CouncU 
 of Nations 
 
 War had dragged out his fourth and bloodiest year ; 
 
 While still on us that fouling horror dwelt 
 Like poisonous clinging mist in hollows drear, 
 
 White towering peaks the golden sunlight felt 
 And THEY who dwell thereon saw dawn appear ; 
 
 As, long before, they saw wild lightnings glow 
 
 With coming storm though yet our sky seemed 
 clear. 
 And while blood-toll was paid of death and woe, 
 I saw the nations' souls to consultation go. 
 
 A peak stands midmost of the rocky sea 
 
 That rims the world, from white Alaskan floes 
 Begirt with death and frozen mystery 
 
 To Tierra del Fuego's firelit snows. 
 Its age-enduring stone, ice-foaming high, 
 
 Auroras gild without, and gold within. 
 
 Far mid the six months' night its tides begin 
 Where flames Arcturus from the middle sky ; 
 Where they at last are stilled, the Southern cross 
 hangs nigh. 
 
• THE CHOSEN NATION 
 
 3 
 
 Thereon great glory gathered far appeared 
 Against the joy of sky-suffusing light; 
 
 Thence, as my mortal wavering vision cleared 
 They shone, as dawns the moon upon midnight 
 Through cloudy tempest-wrack in hurtling flight. 
 
 Across their ranks quick-changing colors play 
 As when the sunbeams through gray shadows 
 smite 
 
 Upon the Veil across Yosemite, 
 
 And shimmering rainbows crown the glory of its 
 spray. 
 
 4 
 
 And gazing long on those who seemed the chief, 
 A dawning recognition broke on me; 
 
 I knew them all — knowledge past belief, 
 For I beyond myself exalt and free 
 Remembered what I knew not, and could see 
 
 Things future heaving hugely to the sky 
 As tempest-blue horizons distant rear 
 
 Above close-ringing summits to the eye 
 
 Of strong-winged eagles who on soaring currents 
 
 fly. 
 
 5 
 The Young Nation* 
 
 Familiar to my sight their faces shone 
 
 Through this high vision seen ; and I could mark 
 Storm-bred Britannia, her great trident gone. 
 
 Her sea-blue eyes with ruffling tempest dark ; 
 
 And France, with woeful visage wild and stark, 
 With tears of blood bedewed ; and lo ! beside 
 
 Germania sat aghast, like them who hark 
 To echoes of past madness that hath died ; 
 But greatness seemed to dawn through death of 
 bloody pride. 
 
THE 0H09SN NATION 
 
 Russia was there with bloodmarks on her brow, 
 
 The halo of new wonder round her still ; 
 White glory of young freedom struggling now 
 With mazement of the treachery that can kill 
 By friendly smile that cloaks a murderous will ; 
 There China sat, a giant childlike power, 
 
 Fast wakening to portentous good or ill ; 
 Japan close by, a watchful fiery flower. 
 Waiting and guardful still for some predestined 
 hour. 
 
 7 
 The Elder Nations 
 
 But mid the majesty of that array 
 
 Were some who struck my soul with deeper awe. 
 For nations that long since have passed away 
 
 From company of those who make earth's law, 
 
 As visitants from other orbs I saw. 
 There purified from taint of earth they come 
 
 From earth's new struggles strength renewed to 
 draw. 
 Like elder children gathering to their home, 
 Dark mystic Egypt sat, and proud imperial Rome. 
 
 8 
 
 There immemorial India, dreaming on. 
 Dusk-eyed with legend, the exalted face 
 
 Beheld of tower-fronted Babylon. 
 
 The mountain-loving soul of Persia's race 
 Communed of timeless truth with warrior Greece. 
 
 Amid them now the stricken shape appears 
 Of Israel, as one whose hope can trace, — 
 
 Steadfast in sorrow through long tortured years, — 
 
 Her triupmh ripe at last, the harvest of her tears. 
 
8 THE CHOSEN NATION 
 
 9 
 
 And Races Forgotten 
 
 Like distant peaks faint on the purple skies, 
 
 Now huge vague shapes upon my knowledge 
 swelled, 
 With strange barbaric faces, in whose eyes 
 
 Slept awful centuries of hoary eld. 
 
 Nations so old, their story none hath spelled ; 
 Surely about their gold-encinctured hair 
 
 Hung rolling mists agleam, like clouds beheld; 
 And their huge names, like chords that shake the 
 
 sphere, 
 Smote deep and vague on my uncomprehending ear. 
 
 10. 
 
 You who have stood on Inspiration Point 
 
 And seen the Yellowstone's tremendous gorge 
 Cleave through old earth's foundations, course and 
 joint 
 
 Laid deep by toiling aeons strong and large ; 
 
 Who, dizzy on the Canyon's windswept marge 
 Watched wonders unbelievable displayed 
 
 Long- wrought on God's sun-flaming jewel-forge; 
 You know what wondering awe that cannot fade 
 Gript me, to see thus bare Time's living strata laid. 
 
 11. 
 
 Yea, you will ask me, "Then how came you there ?" 
 Even while the law of fools, with savage blight 
 
 Smote wild at freedom's dawn, in blinded fear. 
 Came one immortal, fair, with blessed light 
 To my law-weary eyes, which hailed the sight ; 
 
 For oft in wonder through the plains far-spread 
 Of vanished years, that from the thickening dust 
 
THE CHOSEN NATION 9 
 
 Rear their forgotten glories, she hath led 
 Me, momently immortal, though but dust. 
 
 12 
 
 As bums the herald star of God's new day 
 
 Against intensest darkness of old gloom, 
 
 She hung, and through sick death her voice broke 
 
 way 
 Clear as through morning mist rings reveille. 
 One word she spoke, a kindling summons; 
 "Come!" 
 And like god-flushing cordial, or the strain 
 
 Of some deep draught of throbbing poetry 
 That shakes the soul a strength unknown to gain. 
 Her life poured into mine, thrilled every drop and 
 vein. 
 
 13 
 
 Such is the burning wine of her sweet breath, 
 Whereof who tastes is more than other men; 
 
 Cursed with a blessed madness like to death 
 Because he cannot walk the earth again 
 Picking his steps with careful now-and-then 
 
 Amongst the things a mortal needs must see ; 
 But ever in the forefront of his ken 
 
 Sweep vision-armies of the past, which he, 
 
 Beholding, is enwrapped with fatal ecstasy. 
 
 14 
 
 For as a vineyard, spread on pleasant hills. 
 Bears myriad grapes of luscious ruddy vein. 
 
 Whose blood forth-poured to cordial rare distils; 
 In whose rich warmth all sunshine, wind and rain 
 That ever shone or blew or beat amain 
 
10 THE CHOSEN NATION 
 
 In wintry tempest or from summer sky 
 
 Is mingled and immortal, joy with pain ; 
 So in her soul commingled lives for aye 
 The wine of souls of men, through centuries foam- 
 ing high. 
 
 15 
 
 Within my quickened vision stood the past, 
 All Memory's weird and limitless array, 
 
 In rich phantasmagoria dim and vast ; 
 
 Far-flaming wreck of empires stormed away, 
 Victors and victims glittering in affray 
 
 On dire tremendous battlefields of old ; 
 White-winged fleets on some forbidden sea 
 
 In pearly oceans sunk with all their gold ; 
 
 Nations set wild with joy, or lapped in mourning 
 cold ; 
 
 16 
 
 Strange myriads bowed adoring to their god 
 
 In rock-hewn temples of the infant world ; 
 White Druids chanting o'er a blood-stained sod ; 
 
 Wild hate-hymns screamed where battling stan- 
 dards whirled ; 
 
 Te Deums sung o'er battle-flags new-furled ; 
 Legends and songs that tell a nation's dole; 
 
 Like ocean's roar in some small shell enswirled 
 All these resounded echoing in my soul 
 From that huge sea of songs which through her 
 being roll. 
 
THE CHOSEN NATION 11 
 
 IL THE DEBATE 
 
 On rocky peaks high into heaven piled 
 That glorious convocation gathered far, 
 
 Yet pleasant was the atmosphere and mild. 
 
 No footstep might the snow's white beauty mar 
 Of all that host, for they immortal are. 
 
 Beneath the glittering Polestar undefiled 
 
 So shines in Northern night the Arctic glare 
 
 On waste Niagaras wonderful and wild, 
 
 Nameless in silent snow, where it is death to dar«. 
 
 Germany Speaks 
 
 But strong emotion shook them while I gazed, 
 For fateful consultation brought them there ; 
 The light that shone around them changeful blazed, 
 Now shimmering bright, now charged with bale- 
 ful glare, 
 As changed the burden each oration bare. 
 Now spoke Germania ; not with mortal tongue, 
 
 But even as from the universal air. 
 Whose pure and mighty bosom pulsing rung, 
 As though an organ's tubes from peak to sky were 
 flung. 
 
 3 
 
 '*You called me mad ; 't was true ! I ask you then 
 
 Whence came the madness that hath stricken me ? 
 You know that out of frozen marsh and fen, 
 From fjord and forest round the northern sea, 
 
12 THE CHOSEN NATION 
 
 My tribes poured down on Rome's proud majesty 
 And took an empire. Wotan was my ^ide, 
 
 Tlior was my strenght, and Tir my bravery. 
 But I, victorious, cast these gods eiside, 
 And took from Rome her Christ; — what did me 
 then betide? 
 
 4 
 
 "By feuds of Christians was I rent asunder 
 When emperors and princes for me strove. 
 
 Those thirty years my soul was trodden under, 
 And iron tortures through my heart were rove, 
 While Catholic and Lutheran sought to prove 
 
 Their doctrine's truth by rapine, blood and fire ; 
 That deep disunion long within me throve, 
 
 Palsying my hands, and thwarting all desire. 
 
 Three centuries barely healed what those years 
 wrought so dire. 
 
 "Then, then old Wotan called me from his storms, 
 And Thor's deep thunders muttered in my brain 
 Their stalwart legends stirred with ancient charms. 
 
 And woke old fires within my blood again. 
 
 Meanwhile ye ringed me with a tightening chain, 
 Ye who had prospered while my hands were weak. 
 
 Ye took the world, dividing it amain, 
 And barred me every way I want to seek ; 
 And then, outskilled in words, I called Thor's 
 sword to speak!" 
 
 6 
 Belgium Demands a Reason 
 
 "What sought ye then through me?" A passionate 
 cry 
 
THE CHOSEN NATION 18 
 
 Rang through the vault, whence Belgium shook 
 with pain. 
 "Of wordly domination what had I 
 
 Could tempt ambition such as yours to gain? 
 My people's piteous woes, my babies slain, 
 My king dethroned, what worth were these to you ?" 
 '*You chose that way," her conqueror said ; "your 
 bane 
 Was trust in England's faith. The sword you drew 
 She forced into your hands; — such trust her vic- 
 tims rue !" 
 
 Hot spake that gray old mother, at whose call 
 
 Nations stood up, and girdled all the seas 
 With batteships and untried armies tall ; 
 
 "What madmen's lies, what crazed deceits are 
 these ? 
 
 Could I stand idle and behold you seize 
 The key to my security and might? 
 
 Thus would you have me beaten to my knees. 
 Beside, my oath was sworn like Christian knight 
 From tyrant powers to save small nations in their 
 plight." 
 
 8 
 Ireland Mocks 
 
 Then rang a bitter laugh athwart the skies. 
 
 "Twixt treachery, then, and outrage, must we 
 choose f ' 
 Cried Ireland, flashing fire from wild gray eyes. 
 
 "That stale hypocrisy all empires use 
 
 To cloak their crimes of insolent abuse. 
 With drop for drop can I match Belgium's blood, 
 
 Because we both an alien yoke refuse. 
 
14 THE CHOSEN NATION 
 
 But for four years she on Golgotha stood, 
 Seven centuries have I groaned in England's mar- 
 tyrhood !" 
 
 9 
 France Speaks 
 
 'T^s this a time for prating of old wrong ?" 
 
 France spoke, her face with wrath and blood 
 aflame. 
 ''The world is weary of such ancient song. 
 
 This new thing jarred the whole earth from its 
 
 frame. 
 Here on my sacred soil barbarians came. 
 While they remain, no other cause I see 
 
 But drive them out ! Sure honor hath gone lame 
 When woes of little nations such as ye 
 Distract the world's resolve from France's vic- 
 tory!" 
 
 10 
 
 Morocco Replies 
 
 Then stirred remembrance in that wondrous host; 
 
 But one spoke clear, with still reflective tone ; 
 "There was a time, when on my ancient coast 
 
 The foot of France was planted, and the moan 
 
 Of myriad victims wailed, and many a bone 
 Bleached white in desert sands where she had trod. 
 
 She scorched the snows, and grasped hot India's 
 zone; 
 Not yet hath she retired to her own sod." 
 Morocco spoke, unmoved, within a snow-white hood. 
 
 11 
 
 But France replied, her stately form aquiver; 
 "I blessed you with a gift you had not seen. 
 
THE CHOSEN NATION 16 
 
 My culture flowed upon you like a river, 
 Turning your desert to a garden green. 
 Sunk in your past, musing on what hath been, 
 
 You knew not what is now. My armies came 
 And stirred you to new life, whose lambent sheen 
 
 Lightens your darkness with a mounting flame. 
 
 Yea, and to India's shores would I have been the 
 same !" 
 
 12 
 Serbia Pleads 
 
 ^"What then of me ?" poor Serbia shrieked aloud 
 
 With agonized and piteous appeal. 
 "That was the boast which blackened like a cloud 
 
 Above me, borne on Austria's poisoned steel. 
 
 My ancient people felt the iron heel 
 Of Turk and Greek and Austrian crush them down. 
 
 Each had great offerings for my better weal ; 
 Between thew all, they robbed me of my crown ; — 
 Yea, hear me now awhile of my antique renown. 
 
 13 
 
 "There is a valley cleaves the steep incline 
 
 Of Adriatic water's eastern shore, 
 Through mountain ranges whose stark rugged line 
 
 Bars Balkan valleys from the sea's salt roar. 
 
 Through that steep cleft the Drina river bore 
 The line that once divided Rome from Rome, 
 
 When Diocletian his vast empire tore. 
 Then Constantine beside the pleasant foam 
 Of Hellespontine straits made his imperial home. 
 
 14 
 
 "My people from their forests dim and vast 
 That fringe the wild Carpathian slopes descended 
 And into Rome's far-spreading borders passed. 
 
1« THE CHOSEN NATION 
 
 Pent in Byzantium, long so well defended, 
 The Eastern Caesar while our hosts impended 
 With shrunken armies could not check our flow. 
 
 We settled where his riven empire ended ; 
 
 Far on both sides we watched our cities grow ; — 
 
 But ah, that valley's course hath wrought the whole 
 world's woe ! 
 
 15 
 
 "For Empire strove with Empire, Rome with 
 Rome, 
 The Church imperial likewise split in twain. 
 And we by curse predestined had our home 
 Where raged the strife that made both faiths in 
 
 vain. 
 To be one people all our hearts were fain, 
 But sharply were divided, creed from creed. 
 
 Then mid his Frankish warriors Charlemagne 
 Took western Caesar's crown ; and from that deed 
 Sprang glorious Otho's line, and this dark Haps- 
 burg breed. 
 
 16 
 
 ''Out rushed the Turk from yonder desert lair. 
 
 Constantinople fell, and Moscow's lord 
 Caugh up the diadem down trodden there. 
 
 Fresh from his triumph o'er the Tartar horde 
 
 He took the Caesar's name, and swung his sword, 
 As champion of the Eastern Church's fanes. 
 
 But onward still Mohammed's warriors poured, 
 Till on the waste of dread Kossovo's plains 
 My glorious host went down, and left me in their 
 chains. 
 
THE CHOSEN NATION 17 
 
 17 
 
 "That battle on these years marks deep its trace ; 
 
 Bear with me while I tell of the fierce fray 
 When for the last time all our Slavic race, 
 
 United in one desperate array, 
 
 Fought, Catholic and Orthodox, to stay 
 The scourge of Islam. Prince Lazar, who lent 
 
 Last gleam of Dushan's empire-splendid day, 
 Captive was slain; the Sultan in his tent 
 Died by my hero's hand ; — but all our strength was 
 spent. 
 
 18 
 
 "Then long between three empires was I torn, 
 
 Three faiths and three ambitions fought for me. 
 Harsh triple chains into my heart were worn, 
 
 But still I hoped and struggled to be free. 
 
 Sultan and Czar and Kaiser claimed my fee, 
 But I fought on; with poet and with bard 
 
 I kept alight the fires of bravery. 
 Then — when so certain seemed my hope's reward! 
 It loosed that flame on me which hath the whole 
 world scarred I" 
 
 19 
 Britain Again Explains 
 
 Then Britain spoke : "0 poor beleaguered state, 
 
 It was your plight that wrung my heart so hard. 
 I could not leave you to your fearful fate, 
 
 But loosed my sword your piteous rights to 
 
 guard." 
 "Who was it then,'' cried Serbia, "who that 
 barred 
 
18 THE CHOSEN NATION 
 
 Great Kussia forty years ago, when she 
 
 Broke down the Turk's foul power, and from the 
 
 ward 
 Of his harsh mercies strove to set us free ? 
 Who gave him back his sword, Britannia ? Who — 
 
 but thee ? 
 
 20 
 
 ''Accursed are all your empires !" At that word 
 Flung in the teeth of all those august powers, 
 
 A mightly movement through the great host stirred, 
 Like winds that sweep a field of poppy flowers 
 Beneath the skies of June, when heavy showers 
 
 have weighted them with raindrops now outshaken. 
 Freed of that weight, each bud no longer cowers ; 
 
 So every little state, new courage taken 
 
 From woeful Serbia's dare, seemed swiftly to 
 awaken. 
 
 Ill THE LUST OF GOLD. 
 
 Israel Speaks 
 
 And then amid that sudden murmuring gust 
 Another voice was lifted keen and sharp. 
 
 Like one who knows, when strange things are dis- 
 cussed. 
 
 There Israel stood upon a rocky scarp ; — 
 
 No seat had she, but bore an ancient harp 
 Whose melody the whole world hearkens itill. 
 
THE CHOSEN NATION 19 
 
 Her garment's weft was tears, of gold the warp ; — 
 "Of empires long the world hath had its fill ; 
 But will ye hark to me V she spoke with sudden 
 thrm. 
 
 2 
 
 ^'Back in the world's beginning forth I came 
 From that wide desert, whose hot waste 
 
 Breeds wandering tribes, eternally the same. 
 I took that tiny land so strangely placed 
 Twixt desert, hill and ocean, while to east 
 
 Steep Jordan pours down to the Dead Salt Sea. 
 On every side with empires was I faced, 
 
 And but a few short decades was I free ; 
 
 Egyptians ruled me now, and now the gwart 
 Chaldee. 
 
 3 
 
 "Assyria smote Chaldaea to the dust, 
 
 And then was smitten by proud Babylon's king. 
 Cyrus the Median vain Belshazzar thrust 
 
 Off from his throne — ah, hear my exiles sing! — 
 
 Then Alexander with his bristling ring 
 Of pitiless phalanxes o'er them whirled. 
 
 Epiphanes his hammer sought to swing, 
 But back was he by Maccabaeus hurled ; 
 And then Rome's iron tramp subdued the whole 
 round world. 
 
 4 
 
 "All of these bubble empires have I known, 
 Each thinking him eternal as the stars; 
 
 I dared forgotten Pharaohs on their throne, 
 Armed Julius Caesar for his Gallic wars, 
 And loaned these Balkan kings their debt to 
 Mars. 
 
20 THE CHOSEN NATION 
 
 I saw them come and pass — and I remain ; 
 
 Yea, though my face and back bear many scars. 
 When by Masada's fort I burned my slain, 
 There laid I down the sword, nor picked it up 
 again." 
 
 Spain Taunts 
 
 "Yes, but a better weapon got you then; 
 
 Steel laid you down, but gold became your 
 power !" 
 Thus, from her groves and vineyards, haughty 
 Spain. 
 "Eight centuries long I struggled with the Moor 
 And found him leagued with you; till came the 
 hour 
 When Spain must die, or Israel forth be scourged. 
 
 From beautiful Granada's orange bower 
 The canker of your gold-thirst clean I purged. 
 To cure sword-empire's wrongs, how shall gold-rul« 
 be urged?" 
 
 6 
 Israel Replies 
 
 "This is my curse," proud Israel replied, 
 "That I to my own faith must be untrue. 
 
 From Zion through the world went far and wide 
 The Law my prophets heard, and gave to you. 
 Forbidding all gold-empire. Yea, all through 
 
 The dusk and horror that your empires left 
 My seers and sages held the great torch true, 
 
 And planned new worlds, where love should banish 
 theft. 
 
 Even while they built on gold — of land and Temple 
 rdft!" 
 
THE CHOSEN NATION 21 
 
 7 
 
 Mexico and Peru Speak 
 
 ^'^Of all the nations that the earth contains," 
 Came in stern accents from barbaric age, 
 "The last whose voice should lay such charge is 
 Spain's. 
 Gold thirst in her lit such devouring rage 
 Her record bloodiest flares on history's page. 
 Her conquerors on our lands, so rich and new, 
 
 Left pangs of cruelty time cannot assuage. 
 By blackened trail of fire and blood ye knew 
 Spain passed!" Thus Mexico; in answer groaned 
 Peru. 
 
 8 
 Holland 
 
 ^^or only there her savage curse was laid ; 
 
 Her Duke of Alva ringed my land with woe," 
 Said she whose home the stout Lowlanders made, 
 
 Winning their farms from ocean's ebb and flow. 
 ''Because my venturous navies dared invade 
 
 Where she desired to keep supreme control, 
 Beneath the color of a high Crusade, 
 She slew my thousands, to retain her trade. 
 
 Yet still my ships went forth where all the oceans 
 roll." 
 
 9 
 
 Britannia spoke again : "That thing did I 
 
 When Spain's Armada darkened all my seas. 
 Before my ships her galleons turned to fly ; 
 
 My sailors beat Spain's empire to her knees. 
 
 Europe was rid then of her proud decrees." 
 But Holland said with anger: "This to me? 
 
 Who struck me unawares in time of peace, 
 
M THE CHOSEN NATION 
 
 And robbed me of my fruits of victory ? 
 Besides, Spain's fleet was wrecked by tempest, not 
 by thee!" 
 
 10 
 Germany Speaks 
 of Empire-Lust 
 
 Again Germania spoke, with knitted brow: 
 
 ^'Much evil have you said concerning me, 
 And this my quest for empire; tell me now. 
 
 Which, from that same ambition, has been free? 
 
 Where of you all was one content to be 
 The soul of one's own people, self-contained? 
 
 Gold-greed, sword-lust, madness for tribute-fee, 
 Whether Osiris, Christ or Allah reigned, 
 Ye thirsted all for power, and after conquest 
 strained ! 
 
 11 
 
 "Yet hear me ; for the story latest told 
 
 Bears hardly on me. When Columbus found 
 
 That New World all ablaze with gems and gold, 
 Spain's galleons from the sea's remotest round 
 Laden with treasure sailed for Cadiz bound. 
 
 Nations went wild with envy, but were tricked. 
 The shadowy Empire had a Spaniard crowned, 
 
 And Emperor and Pope laid interdict 
 
 On all who dared infringe Spain's claim, held clo«e 
 and strict. 
 
 12 
 
 'TJike fell infection of some hot disease 
 That sets a sufferer with illusions wild, 
 
 That glint of gold, fresh mined in Southern seas 
 Tormented Europe ; and like men beguiled 
 By swamp-light's lure to wallow, all defiled 
 
THE CHOSEN If ATIOlf tt 
 
 In marshes of decay ; so every land 
 
 Went mad for gold. That Empire-fabric piled 
 Through centuries long by every statesman hand 
 All insufficient was, to curb that fierce demand. 
 
 13 
 
 "So fell our Empire, when upon us loomed 
 Those huge forgotten shapes beyond the dawn. 
 
 Cipango and Cathay and India doomed 
 The gray old order, like a garden lawn 
 Forgotten, with the guests adventuring gone. 
 
 But when thus riven our great Temple fell, 
 In its vast rift I was asunder drawn. 
 
 Why of the stones built ye for me a cell ? 
 
 Grown strong, I burst the lock, at large with you to 
 dwell." 
 
 14 
 
 "When madmen break their chains," Britannia 
 said, 
 
 "And spread destruction over land and sea, 
 Forthwith a stronger prison must be made, 
 
 To hold them fettered there eternally. 
 
 The piteous wrecks of all my merchantry 
 Float strewn on all the oceans ; and lo, there, 
 
 Where poor Armenia in her misery 
 Crouches too weak for tears. Mad that you were. 
 How shall we hence believe whatever oaths you 
 swear V 
 
 15 
 Armenia 
 
 But now Armenia struggled from her seat. 
 And horror struck me as I saw her stand ; 
 
24 THE CHOSEN NATION 
 
 Wasted with death and terror, on her feet 
 She tottered ; palsy shook her quivering hand. 
 Upon her brow starvation left its brand; 
 Her voice like them who moan from out the tomb, 
 
 So strained with woe we scarce could understand ; 
 "Speak ye of me ? Again my ancient home 
 Is all a grave beneath; drear heaven a chamel- 
 dome. 
 
 16 
 
 "Since dawn of empire-hunger was I cursed. 
 Because my seat bestrides the ancient road 
 
 "Whereby the Way to India was traversed 
 By caravans since first the piercing goad 
 Drove grunting camels, weary with their load 
 
 Of Egypt's grain for India's spice to trade. 
 Whoso controls me, rules that far abode 
 
 Of phantom glittering wealth ; so was I made 
 
 Victim and hapless pawn of all that game who 
 played. 
 
 17 
 
 "Self-righteous Britain, this black curse shall be 
 Stained on thy frontlet too ; it was thy word 
 
 Which stayed the hand of Europe raised for me. 
 To halt the slaughters which this Turkish horde 
 Wrought on my helpless folk with fire and sword ; 
 
 Because the Way to India might be won 
 
 By others, thou didst take the Turk abhorred. 
 
 This Turk whose name thou now dost spit upon — 
 
 To be thy faithful friend, thy India's gates to 
 guard ! 
 
 18 
 
 'TBut in this tangled game for India's gold 
 Now hath the Grerman won the Turk from thee, 
 
THE CHOSEN NATION 25 
 
 And more my slaughters prosper than of old. — 
 Germans and English are one breed to me ! 
 Roman and Greek and Parthian and Chaldee — 
 They are all empire-mad ; and all will kill 
 
 And burn and torture, wrecking earth and sea 
 To win that power which curses with its hell 
 Both them who win, and them who by its fury 
 feU!" 
 
 19 
 Islam 
 
 *^Who dare call me barbarian?" — Islam spoke; — 
 "Of scattered tribes I could an Empire rear 
 
 Against whose walls crusading armies broke 
 Like shattered waves. With poet, sage and seer 
 I kept the torch of knowledge burning clear 
 
 When darkness covered Europe. What were ye 
 When Haroun Raschid ruled the Persian mere? 
 
 Your Renaissance was lit with sparks from me ; 
 
 I dared Columbus turn to breast the Western sea !" 
 
 IV; THE NATURE OF EMPIRE. 
 
 1 
 
 China Asks Concerning 
 the Nature of Empire 
 
 Now wild commotion stirred that glorious host 
 
 Like oceans where cross-currents strive and ply, 
 When cresting waves, by quartering storm-winds 
 tossed, 
 Thunder three ways, and hurl their white foam 
 
 high; 
 Li answering tumult shook the flaming sky; 
 
26 THI CHOSEN NATION 
 
 But then a quiet voice cleft through the storm, 
 
 And China, from her slumbering centuries shy, 
 With strange old garments gathered round her 
 
 form, 
 Spoke slowly; and the noise stilled as by potent 
 charm. 
 
 2 
 
 'TVTuch am I puzzled by this high debate 
 
 To know what is the prize for which you strive. 
 
 Upon your ways I wakened very late. 
 
 And not yet have I learned ; but I shall thrive 
 Upon this wondrous knowledge that you drive 
 
 Hard into me, whether I will or no. 
 This is the wonderment that I derive 
 
 From your debate ; your wars flame to and fro 
 
 In Empire-quest. What is this thing that lures 
 you so? 
 
 3 
 
 'T(0, all the horrors of this present hate ; — 
 
 Your splendid millions crushed to bloody mire, 
 Vast agony, nameless sufferers desolate,^ 
 
 Nations destroyed, cities laid waste with fire. 
 
 Here has been told the record, long and dire 
 Of former wars, weary with endless waste; 
 
 And yet the goal ye sought seems no whit nigher. 
 What good was ever gained, that has replaced 
 Those lives and tears ye spent, those splendors all 
 effaced?" 
 
 4 
 Britannia Claims 
 Eternal Rule 
 
 There was a silence ; then Britannia ros«. 
 Stately and tall, in garments gold and gray. 
 
THE CHOSEN NATION J7 
 
 'TDink not this war," she said, "with all of those 
 Whereof the story has been told today. 
 The Empire that I seek, like that I sway, 
 
 I hold not for my glory nor my gain. 
 
 Germania's greed, like Rome's, must pass away. 
 
 As passed the shadowy grandeurs of old Spain ; 
 
 But my Empire must grow, and must unmoved 
 remain ; 
 
 5 
 
 ''For they all sought to rule for pride of power ; 
 
 They crushed subjected nations under heel; 
 But those who bear my rule, thrive hour by hour — 
 
 I bless them by my lordship, for their weal, 
 
 And ceaseless nourish them with tireless zeal. 
 It is a burden I am called to bear 
 
 By that high Destiny, beyond appeal, 
 Which laid on me a guardian's tender care. 
 Nerved by this trust, all these unselfish wars I 
 dare ;" — 
 
 6 
 
 Thus far she spoke ; then on the night arose 
 
 A laughter such as surely never rung 
 In all the ages through the patient snows 
 
 That sheathed those hills, since into heaven they 
 sprung. 
 
 Ireland indignant flamed ; but her wild tongue 
 Was drowned and lost in that stupendous mirth. 
 
 Grave Egypt smiled, her memories among; 
 But India from her famine-stricken dearth 
 Gazed with a steady scorn that pierced such boast- 
 ings worth. 
 
S8 THE CHOSEN NATION 
 
 7 
 Rome 
 
 Britannia stood amazed ; but her clenched hand 
 
 Wavered irresolute. For in this place 
 No truth might be by watchful censor banned, 
 
 Nor all her gold one damning fact erase. 
 
 Then boomed a voice like echo from the face 
 Of stem Alaskan cliffs, where glaciers loom, 
 
 And bleak winds harp the pines; while at their 
 base 
 Dark chill seas plunge below, in froth and foam ; 
 And silence held all else, while spoke imperial 
 Rome. 
 
 8 
 "Daughter, such words are framed for mortal men, 
 
 Whose minds are shallow, nor remembrance long. 
 Waste not the time of this assembly, then, 
 
 Who know your deeds, with such resultless song. 
 
 Your rule indeed is new, our realms among ; 
 For never yet, until you showed us how, 
 
 Was empire gained by any but the strong. 
 The crown you wear on unabashed brow 
 Is strange of shape indeed ; — that will we all allow. 
 
 9 
 
 ^Tor empire's crown, till you your reign begun 
 Upon a sturdy folk was always placed. 
 
 Who reaped the spoils from subject nations won. 
 But you from stolen farms your freemen chased, 
 And made all England one luxurious waste. 
 
 Huddled in noisome slums, your people fed 
 The wheels of giant mills, whose engines raoed 
 
 Driven by the burning bones of living dead ; 
 
 Starved from their homes, your best o'er land and 
 ocean sped. 
 
THE CHOSEN NATION 29 
 
 10 
 
 "Sons of your poor as tortured fuel flamed ; 
 
 Sons of your rich in world-wide exile fared. 
 Old India by your blessed rule lies maimed ; 
 
 And Ireland, whom my reverent soldiers spared, 
 
 Fearing the Blessed Dead her peace who shared. 
 Egypt and Persia wither by your blight ; 
 
 Those African Republics stoutly dared 
 Defend their lands, till your chivalrous knight 
 Starved wives and babes of them who bested him 
 in fight. 
 
 11 
 
 "We are not men, by empty words befooled; 
 
 This is the course all empires must pursue. 
 Never for their own good are conquests ruled, 
 
 But for the conqueror^s profit — this is true. 
 
 Yet all your gains are garnered for a few, 
 Devouring both your fighters and your foes. 
 
 Now come we here to plan some manner new 
 To build the world again. Our words disclose 
 How deep we all agree; the desperate need each 
 knows. 
 
 12 
 
 *Tjook how the story of each one who speaks 
 Goes back to Rome, focus of all your years. 
 Germans and Belgians, Spaniards, Serbians, 
 Greeks, 
 All trace through me their triumphs and their 
 
 tears. 
 Here now sits one whose splendor new appears 
 Upon the torn horizon, as I shone 
 Westward upon the world of my compeera. 
 
30 THE CHOSEN NATION 
 
 When I — young Republic ! — reared a throne, 
 Then went the world astray. Be not my fault thine 
 own!" 
 
 V. THE GREAT POWER. 
 
 Rome Tells the 
 Origin of Nations 
 
 Rome stood tremendous, towering to the sky, 
 
 In majesty that dwarfed them all beside. 
 "China a question asks/^ she said ; "and I 
 
 Will dare to answer what none else hath tried. 
 
 This is the hour when Destiny must decide 
 How fares the world forever; life or death 
 
 For all the nations on our words abide. 
 This planet maddens with a poisoned breath 
 That ye must clear, or die ; 'tis God that beckoneth. 
 
 "We are souls of nations great and small ; 
 
 But there is One who moves among us here 
 Unseen — as we by men — yet felt by all. 
 
 Deeply within us mighty pulses stir 
 Through ages stronger; rousing doubt and fear 
 
 If we are blind indeed ; but when our eyes 
 Wake to the life that moves us, as a seer 
 Of mortal men hails us, with awed surprise, 
 Then fear of that Great Power is gone, and hop«i 
 arige. 
 
THE CHOSEN NATION 81 
 
 and the Birth 
 of Worlds 
 
 "There was a Hope, before the dust of stars 
 Formed in eternity, and through the void 
 
 Drifted in darkness ; till in hurtling wars 
 
 Of flaming mist, quick-forming, quick-destroyed, 
 Vague laws began to dawn. Fire, dust-alloyed 
 
 Gave birth to circling systems. Worlds were born 
 And round tremendous suns swung wide- 
 deployed. 
 
 From seas that roared on giant shores forlorn 
 
 Life moulded sprang at last ; then came our being's 
 morn. 
 
 "Even as mortal bodies are composed 
 Of myriad cells, each with dividual span, 
 
 But through a conscious unity imposed 
 Above them, think and speak and move as man, 
 So were we born, of men, in this vast plan 
 
 Where to the moving aeons ever tend. 
 
 And still that hope, which could the star-dust 
 scan 
 
 And see huge Order with vague Chaos blend. 
 
 Sees yet a greater Life above our lives impend. 
 
 "This is the curse which wrecks the world with ill j 
 Even as some men whole nations strive to be. 
 
 Robing themselves in autocratic will, 
 
 Stifling all thought that dare unblinded see; 
 And ajs this always ends in misery; 
 
82 THE CHOSEN NATION 
 
 So when a nation, blind with lust of power, 
 
 Seeks to dethrone that One, greater than we. 
 And as a tyrant o'er all races tower. 
 Then burns that Empire-greed, which plagues us 
 at this hour. 
 
 6 
 
 "Who then is this, that rises so sublime 
 
 Greater than nations, as we are than men ? 
 What nation of the nations, lord of time. 
 
 Must we perceive in adoration, then? 
 
 Nearest I came of all in mortal ken 
 To be that commonwealth ; — wherefore my story 
 
 Takes in you all ; — but none of us may pen 
 That life within ourselves. Ye who are hoary, 
 Ye who are young — ye know the greatness of that 
 glory !" 
 
 7 
 Egypt 
 
 Then spoke that ancient nation of the Nile 
 Who through hot centuries, for some sign un- 
 known 
 Scanned all the stars, a patient weary while 
 Still watching for the breaking of the dawn. 
 Aeons of adoration thrilled her tone 
 With all the wondering worship poured abroad 
 
 In shrines of Thebes or Memphis or of On 
 Where mid the shaken sistrums, silver-shod. 
 Dusk prostrate millions prayed to beasts, revealing 
 God. 
 
 8 
 
 ''When first my tribes into Nile's valley came, 
 Each bore a totem on its standard spear. 
 
THE CHOSEN NATION U 
 
 Ram, falcon, fox or serpent gave its name 
 To all who did its sacred shape revere. 
 Forty-and-two my tribes in number were, 
 
 Forty -and-two their gods; till all in one 
 Egypt united was. Then many a year 
 
 Nile as Osiris, Horus as the Sun, 
 
 Isis the Land they hymned. — Then came Akhen- 
 aton. 
 
 9 
 
 'Tie, my young Pharaoh, dauntless and serene, 
 Chiselled the shape of every beast adored 
 
 Out of the monuments. Where they had been 
 He carved the glory of the changeless lord. 
 The Spirit-sun. Himself both priest and bard 
 
 He sang and prayed to Him who moves within 
 Land, Sun and River. But his sole reward 
 
 Was cursing and oblivion for his sin. 
 
 Thus fare they who too soon such central knowl- 
 edge win !" 
 
 10 
 Russia 
 
 Then Russia sprang impetuous to her feet; 
 
 'Well have I learned,'' she cried, 'Tiow dread 
 that crime. 
 To tell such truth ! The ancient years repeat ; 
 
 Today all nations bend, in every clime, 
 
 Abject as were your tribes in olden time. 
 To totem Eagle, Lion, Fox and Bear. 
 
 And when I struggled from war's murky slime 
 Whereto these beast-gods led and sought to clear 
 Our eyes to Truth's pure light — lo, how ye stabbed 
 me here! 
 
84 THE CHOSEN NATION 
 
 11 
 
 "I felt the wondrous presence Rome hath told 
 
 Beating in me — for I inherit too 
 The dream of her old vision to enfold 
 
 All races into one. I overthrew 
 
 Mouldy czar-trappings that I long outgrew. 
 "Wide to the world I sped a new appeal — 
 
 Out of my desperation hope I drew; — 
 To crush such false beast-worship under heel 
 And hail that mighty Soul, whose presence all must 
 feel;— 
 
 12 
 
 "The Soul that is not hemmed by race nor bound, 
 
 Whose nation never yet on land or sea 
 Set up its throne, nor sovereignty has found 
 Save when I tried to give her home with me. 
 Then they who swore they fought to make men 
 free 
 Turned on me with reviling hatred sore — 
 
 Because I, sovereign, dared to bow the knee 
 To her whose splendor all must soon adore, 
 Whose throne shall stand supreme, — the Nation of 
 the Poor!" 
 
 13 
 
 Britannia, angered, flashed her stormy eyes: 
 "This rule is no rule, but destruction sheer I 
 What shall become of all our majesties 
 
 If this new power usurp our proper sphere ? 
 
 Ye who are gone from earth no longer care ; 
 But what of us, whose course sees yet no end ? 
 
 Shall we crouch waiting Slavery to appear? 
 Now know we what your meaning doth portend ; — 
 Great Powers, stand leagued with me ; from Anar- 
 chy defend!" 
 
THE OHOSEN NATION 
 
 VL The Throne of Judgement. 
 
 Then sharp division shook them each from each, 
 Older from younger, mightier from the slight, 
 
 Wrangling like children with impetuous speech; 
 But my eyes fixed upon the central height. 
 Where a new wonder broke upon my sight. 
 
 Upon the peak that first with roseate glow 
 Answers the morning-star in flaming light 
 
 A crystal throne, upon the printless snow 
 
 Stood living-vibrant, rich with glorious ebb and 
 flow; 
 
 2 
 
 So glows an opal, magic from the mines; 
 
 Or summer clouds, with struggling lightnings 
 chained, 
 That veil the moon which full at zenith shines, 
 
 While else the sky, with glittering gold inveined, 
 
 Burns like new love, with purple wonder stained ; 
 'T was empty, like the Chalice reverenced well 
 
 Whereon Cathedral splendors wide entrained 
 Declare it holy, ere the Sanctus bell 
 Hath named it throne of God, wherein his love doth 
 dwell; 
 
 3 
 
 Without that Chalice all were vain and cold; 
 
 Vain chant and anthem, twilight soft and rare, 
 Censer and cross and constellations old 
 
 Whose altar-candles gild the perfumed air. 
 
THE CHOSEN NATION 
 
 Glittering through scented mist like hope through 
 prayer ; 
 For these their beauty, hope and meaning take 
 
 From God's true Presence, faith-expected there; 
 So vain was this assembly on the peak 
 Without the Throne, wherefrom one should the 
 Answer speak. 
 
 Before the throne a snowy altar stood, 
 
 Whereon all flowers that I had ever seen 
 Lay pouring forth their perfume as a flood ; 
 
 From every clime, from chill and shag-browed 
 Maine, 
 
 To California, sweet with gales serene, 
 And where the Gulf's blue waters lave the shore 
 
 Of palm-leaved Florida. There blushed the bell 
 Of morning-glory, fairy dews that bore; 
 Wistaria, drowsy-sweet, drunken with soft disdain ; 
 
 Magnolias, with corroding touch that die, 
 Fragrant in purity; gentian and rose; 
 
 Azalea and crape myrtle, trembling shy; 
 
 Hawthorne and laurel, cherry bloom that snows 
 Early in spring ; wild-root the prairie knows ; 
 
 Pale jessamine, the sweetest star that breathes; 
 Arbutus, whom low-lying leaves disclose; 
 
 Deep passion-flower, whose heart the sharp thorn 
 sheathes ; 
 
 Orchids distraught, whose soul mysterious tumult 
 seethes. 
 
THE CHOSEN NATION 37 
 
 6 
 
 In that great tribute every land had part, 
 
 And flowers unknown were there, whose censers 
 swung 
 
 Through deep primeval forests, or the heart 
 Of hidden valleys mountain-ringed, where sung 
 The cool-voiced seraphim, when earth was young. 
 
 Where yet the echoes linger hid from day. 
 Exhilarant like wine their perfume hung. 
 
 But pure like morning sea-breath, clean to sway 
 
 Mist-ragged clouds of doubt from heavenly hearts 
 away. 
 
 Amid those blossoms that to earth belong 
 The tribute of its life each nation laid ; 
 
 Music and art and mighty- winged song. 
 The melody of homes contented made, 
 Carols that rose where happy children played; 
 
 Yet some with shame their offerings let fall — 
 The loves and hopes of trusting souls betrayed ; — 
 
 Red were their hands ; yet lo, the hands of all 
 
 Seemed blackened as I looked, with mingled blood 
 and gall. 
 
 8 
 
 Foremost sat one who held her peace unbroken, 
 
 Nor on the others gazed, while conflict rolled ; 
 But seemed as if expecting some new token 
 
 Upon a weary tangle to unfold. 
 
 My heart beat fast, her beauty to behold; 
 I loved her best of all that glorious host, 
 
 Yea, though she strike my name from out her 
 fold;— 
 
88 THE CHOSEN NATION 
 
 And many not her sons revere her most, 
 And hail her as earth's hope beyond her furthest 
 coast. 
 
 VIL THE CONSECRATION. 
 
 Now sudden silence struck ; the air still bore 
 
 The quivering echoes that strong strife released, 
 As waves that lash a rocky storm-bound shore 
 Thunder and plunge long after storms hav© 
 
 ceased, 
 While down the sky the shattered clouds far- 
 chased 
 Still flame with distant lightning. And with fear 
 
 All silent at the throne's white splendor gazed, 
 Where each had hoped to sit. But gathering there 
 Strange flames, with clouds enwrapped, now won- 
 drou&ly appear. 
 
 2 
 
 Ohaldaea 
 
 Then rose with awe one watcher to her feet; 
 
 Chaldaea, seer of nations, was her name, 
 Who in that ancient valley had her seat 
 
 Where old Mesopotamia marked the frame 
 
 Of gorgeous constellations wheel and flame 
 Against palm-bordered skies of cloudless blue. 
 
 While past gray cities of primeval fame 
 Euphrates, wed with Tigris, proudly drew 
 Imperial wealth and power, long splendid centuriae 
 through. 
 
THE CHOSEN NATION 89 
 
 3 
 
 **Lo, while we speak," she cried, "the Answer given ! 
 
 summit of the world's long-waited hour ! 
 We stand here by conflicting passions driven 
 
 As children quarrel for disputed power, 
 
 While even now among us One doth tower 
 Splendid beyond our utmost dream of light, 
 
 Whose shape I dimly see begin to flower 
 Within those fearful clouds of threatening night 
 That cloak a glorious Form — Earth's consummated 
 might!" 
 
 Down on her knees that ancient prophet fell ; 
 
 Down bowed the elder nations one by one ; 
 The little countries gladly knelt as well; 
 
 Reluctantly the mighty, borne upon 
 Resistlessly by that constraining spell 
 Whose strength they feared indeed but could not 
 quell. 
 
 Darkly the gloom impended; muttering tolled 
 Sky-shaking thunder, like a tocsin bell; 
 Then burst those blackening clouds, like heaven 
 asunder rolled. 
 
 But like a child, outworn and overtried 
 
 By some great coronation's longdrawn strain. 
 
 With shouts and trumpets, endless pomp and pride, 
 I laid my head upon her breast again. 
 Yet like great music thrilled through every vein 
 
40 THE CHOSEN NATION 
 
 — Ah, how the sound from fear the world shall 
 
 purge ! — 
 That "Peace be with you!" and their 'Teace, 
 
 Amen!" 
 According rolled, like one low-thundering surge 
 From drowsing summer seas upon the slumbering 
 
 verge. 
 
 6 
 
 Then spoke that Voice ; meanwhile the music 
 dwelling 
 In solemn Largo, trembling grand and clear. 
 Like one I heard from deep-toned organ swelling 
 As if adream, through gloom rich-tint and rare, 
 While Rome her full pontificals outpoured 
 To risen eyes, at Easter, of her Lord. 
 
 One spoke, — not from dead centuries , greed- 
 enshrined, 
 But for earth's multitudes, long bound and blind, 
 Who hail through hell and hate long-hidden hope 
 restored. 
 
 The International Speaks 
 
 "To every age a messenger is sent, 
 To keep the purpose of all ages clear; 
 
 Far centering to that same sublime intent 
 Wherewith the worlds began in space appear. 
 
 Each one of you must this commission bear, 
 
 At some time speaking with my greater voice. 
 Whose utterance all mankind oft groans to hear. 
 
 When one that message speaks, the worlds rejoice; 
 
 And now most desperate need prays for another 
 choice. 
 
THE CHOSEN NATION 41 
 
 8 
 
 "Here has the peril of such choosing been, 
 Defeating oft the purpose of my will; 
 
 That when one speaks my words to waiting men, 
 And men exult, to hear that message thrill, — 
 Then comes ambitious pride, whose graspings 
 kill. 
 
 Like one whom men with sovereign rule entrust 
 In perilous times, who seeks that post to fill 
 
 Beyond the need, transforming good to ill ; 
 
 So nations greedy turn from prophecy to lust. 
 
 9 
 
 "Thence has destruction come ; for those I bade 
 Speak for mankind brought mankind to their 
 thrall. 
 
 Now in this horror of the world gone mad. 
 One have I chosen from among you all. 
 My nations from this cursed greed to call. 
 
 As Egypt from her tribes one self became, 
 As this Republic in her council-hall 
 
 Mid eight-and-forty daughters sits supreme, 
 
 So shall I dwell with you, all one ; this is my dream. 
 
 10 
 
 '^ow, thou young Republic girt with stars, 
 
 "Whose spacious territories hailed us here, 
 Thou wert God's trust, from hate-recurrent wars 
 
 To show the way; how peace may persevere; 
 
 How men be cleansed of hate and greed and fear. 
 How federated states in one may dwell 
 
 Seeking one good through ends of earth brought 
 near. 
 Thy words indeed are high ; but guard thou well ; 
 By deeds belying words, thy predecessors fell. 
 
42 TME @H08EN NATION 
 
 11 
 
 "Perplexed, the nations on thy conduct gaze. 
 
 Thy words like music on their hearing break, 
 But what they see fills them with sore amaze; — 
 
 The scourge, the tar, the gibbet and the stake ; 
 
 Boys slain in torture for their conscience' sake; 
 Men chained untried in life-long dungeons foul; — 
 
 While others gladly thee for leader take 
 Art thou indeed unfit thyself to rule? — 
 Blind fools, savage with power, thy speech and 
 thought control. 
 
 12 
 
 "Bloodletting from her craze Germania cured; 
 
 That burning fever leaps across the sea. 
 Once having lifted thine all-glittering sword, 
 
 Its shining glory hath enchanted thee. 
 What profits it the world, if thou destroy 
 
 One empire's madness, if while that is done, 
 A worser madness drives thee to employ 
 
 The same foul means to seize both earth and sun ? 
 
 Thus hast thou lost all wars, even if this war be 
 won. 
 
 13 
 
 "See how forgotten nations, long oppressed, 
 
 Thy lightest word as their salvation greet. 
 Their hopes on thee, like sun on Rainier's crest, 
 
 Robe all the world in promise at thy feet. 
 
 Now strikes the hour when trust and tempter 
 meet! 
 Expunge this empire-fever from thy veins! 
 
 If thou the old disastrous round repeat, 
 
THE CHOgEN NATION 43 
 
 If thy rule fail, as fell all former reigns, 
 Then must I seek, who else to lift that hope 
 remains !" 
 
 14 
 
 Then that Great Power, which is the Soul of Man, 
 Heir of all years, Time's purpose all-revealing. 
 
 The Bride of God, the Reason of his Plan, 
 Upon my Mother's head God's mission sealing 
 
 Her right hand laid and to the flaming skies 
 
 That shone intense and still, lifted her splendid 
 eyes. — 
 Ah, Mother, with what fearful love appealing 
 We prayed thee then, that for the whole world's 
 healing 
 
 Thou worthily redeem the trust that on thee lies ! 
 
 15 
 
 America Refuses the Choice 
 
 But — ah, the shame that wrapt us like a flood 
 
 To see thee halt and hesitate, and choose ! 
 Horror that froze our hearts and stopped our blood 
 
 To see thee, Mother, that great hope refuse! 
 
 Lending thy name and power to foul abuse, 
 Thy voice the doom of truth, the knell of right ! 
 
 That glory which thy early days diffuse 
 Sold into darkness, mocked into a blight! 
 God! Who could turn that dawn into so black a 
 night! 
 
 16 
 
 Like trumpets calling to the day of doom, 
 With scorn of all the ages rang that Voice ? 
 
44 THE CHOSEN NATION 
 
 "On harlot cheeks the tint of youthful bloom 
 Tokens disease and death. Such is thy choice ! 
 Thine was the hope, the failure thine. — Give 
 room ! 
 Here stands my Messenger, chosen and true. 
 
 Russia, sole brightness in this murky gloom, 
 Take this high place, of faithfulness the due. 
 Nations, behold the dawn! Russia brings light to 
 you!" 
 
 17 
 
 Then gathered all the light upon them there, 
 
 Centering from all the heavens, deep and clear, 
 Dimming all else; till on my failing sight 
 Drawn up and lost into that awful light 
 
 Whose name is Truth — behold, they disappear! 
 
 Now on the Eastern hills the glorious day 
 Broke slowly; and in silence, eyes all bright 
 
 Homeward they went, each on a several way; 
 
 And last we two, alone. In sleep again I lay. 
 
 
THE CHOSEN NATION 45 
 
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