Classic Poem

Two thousand years since the Christ King died,
And left as His sign the Cross,
That men might find on the Christ-trod road
True life, through death and loss.
They mockingly cried as He hung on the tree:
‘Himself He cannot save.’
They uttered the truth, for the way of the Christ
Is ever the Cross and grave.

Once more vile hands have upreared the Cross,
And Belgium is crucified,
Is dying the death of grief and pain.
While antichrists deride.
The stricken Belgium is very Christ,
By a caitiff's kiss betrayed;
But Belgium will have an Easter Morn,
And a glory that ne'er shall fade.

And all who are bearing Belgium's Cross,
British and Serb and French,
Russian and Jap, on battle-line,
In hospital base and trench,
In training camp and ambulance corps,
On warship and submarine—
These are treading to-day the Calvary road,
The road that the Christ has been.

Nor are these all; but the multitude
Of women who whispered, ‘Go,’
Though the heart was torn and the hearth forlorn,
And the brave voice faltered so;
And the little child who sobs for ‘Dad,’
And the aged one who mourns—
These know the gloom of Gethsemane,
And the weight of the Crown of Thorns.

Yes, the Prussian Pilate has said the word,
‘Take Him and crucify,’
And Christ is wearing a khaki coat,
As again He goes to die.
He stands once more in Pretorium Hall,
His sufferings, who can tell?
He faces a cursing, spitting mob,
And the spit is the spleen of hell.

With deadened heart and blinded eye,
To the writing on the wall,
The Hun is taking his toll of blood,
And fierce does his vengeance fall;
And the weakest ones must share the blows
From a brutal Teuton force,
While the world's elect are sacrificed
On a Hohenzollern cross.
. . . . . . . . . .
But after the Night the Dawn will come,
And the joy of the Empty Grave,
And a risen world will immortalize
Her heroes, true and brave.
Then a new new world will accept the Creed
That truth is a nation's might,
And a new new world will scorn the lie
That force is the only right.

Not Superman, but Brother-man,
In the world that is soon to be,
And men will speak of the Greatest War
As ‘The War that Made Men Free.’
For the thunder-roll of drums to-day,
And the holocaust of War,
Mean the world-wide sway of the Cross of Christ,
And its triumph evermore.