Classic Poem

They say I fought for destruction — now what would I seek to destroy,
Who have builded and dreamed and builded since days when I was a boy?
They say I would crush by millions — have we crushed the weak and the small
Since Frederick fought for Prussia, seven millions against you all?
Say, when were the Poles contented — with themselves, or our foes, or us?
Was Schleswig-Holstein happy? Or the rest of them prosperous?
You say we are Brutes and Barbarians, and filthy, at board, or in bed —
Are our cities less cleanly than yours are? their people worse sheltered and fed?
What dare you say of our morals? What dare you say of your own?
Where do they enter our quarrels? Who is it casting the stone?

Have we done no work of merit, who sought without flinching for cures
To stamp out the Curse we inherit? What have you done about yours?
You said we were cruel to children; may your God, and ours, forgive!
You say we are cruel to children, while it is for the children we live!
I am not the only German who has wept for Humanity,
With a woman's hand on his shoulder, and the head of a dog on his knee.
Of a hound whose name was coupled with his by a dying breath,
And a head his last-born patted ere he marched away to his death!
You say that our discipline's brutal, because you are paying the debt.
You say that conscription is deadly; it hasn't killed Germany yet.
See the weeds in your Southern cities hawk and spit between race-board and pot!
Would discipline make them or mar them? Or your citizens miss them, or not?
You! who make sport your ideal, down there by the Southern Sea:
There's a menace more deadly and real than ever the German could be.

We sought a port for our commerce, we sought a route for our trade,
And a place in the Lord's wide oceans to market the things we have made.
We gave you the wisdom of sages; you gave us the Cave Man, the Crude,
You gave us your frivolous pages, you gave us the Naked and Lewd.
We gave you the Music of Ages — and this is your gratitude!
You say that my dreams are evil — mine are, and mine alone,
And whether for God or Devil, you cannot interpret your own.
And I die that War shall be ended, and I die that Peace shall have birth;
And you'll know in the Great Hereafter, in the Great Hereafter on Earth.
Are our artisans cruder or rougher, who conquer the desert way;
Or the German farmers less worthy? O Sons of the New Lands, say!
And I shall say nothing of courage, whether on land or wave;
And you shall say nothing of courage, in a world where all nations are brave.