Classic Poem

Once on a time a thousand different men
Together knelt before as many Gods
Each from the other different as themselves
Were different each from each, yet didn't fall out,
Or cut each others' throats amidst their prayers—
‘Stop there! that never happened, or, if it did,
'Twas by a miracle; or if it happened
Really and in the way of nature, tell me
How, where, and when, what kind of men they were,
What kind of Gods—didn't even the Gods fall out?’
Not even the Gods; I'll tell thee how it was;
But art thou trusty? canst thou keep the secret?
‘Yes yes.’ Then in thine ear; the thousand Gods
Had all the selfsame name; so every God,
Hearing no name invoked except his own,
Believed that every man of all the thousand
Worshipped him only; while each one of all
The thousand worshippers, hearing no name
Except his own God's name invoked, believed
That every one of all the whole nine hundred
Ninety and nine worshipped no God but his;
So all the thousand men together lived
In love and peace, as holding the same faith,
And of the thousand Gods not one was jealous.