Classic Poem

The Earth is beautiful — the earth is kind
And the milk of her bosom is a great healing.
But because of the iniquities of Man
I will sing a psalm of affliction,
A dirge of tears, a lamentation of darkest night,
When there are no stars, but out of the darkness
The thunders shout of vengeance.
Here in the lonely wilderness,
In the abode of meditation,
Unannoyed by the clamor of men,
I will speak so men must listen:
Those who buzz this little hour
And those to come.
Standing on a dizzy crag above a rotting marsh,
Justice overlooks civilization,
As a dark juniper on a basaltic cliff
Overlooks the desert.
His face is calm as a mountain.
In his right hand a sword of lightning,
Point down — not yet uplifted.

I hear him saying slowly, without anger,
" Man! Man! Greed is your poison.
" Hardness of heart your sickness
" And ignorance your destruction.
" It is nothing that you have touched the sky
" With your iron towers of Babylon,
" Leveled the mountains, harnessed the cataracts
" And put the insurgent ocean into bonds.
" You have loosed eagles to snatch joy
" From the lips of children,
" And have suffered a usurper to make
" Mothers unfit, hating motherhood.
" Fathers unfit, cursing fatherhood.
" Who has given to any possession of the planet?
" Or said to any " Your brother shall be your tenant"?
" Who has caused the people to starve
" At the full breast of their mother?
" Or made the people slaves; in peace and in war,
" Obedient to their masters. "

O for clean-limbed, clean-souled men and women.
A free sky, a free Earth and free-winged souls.
I had rather taste the common lot with justice
Than live like a louse on the backs of the Poor.