Classic Poem

It said “Come home, here is an end, a goal,
Not the one raced for, is it not better indeed? Victory you know requires
Force to sustain victory, the burden is never lightened, but final defeat
Buys peace: you have praised peace, peace without victory.”

He said “It seems I am traveling no new way,
But leaving my great work unfinished how can I rest? I enjoyed a vision,
Endured betrayal, you must not ask me to endure final defeat,
Visionless men, blind hearts, blind mouths, live still.”

It said “Yet perhaps your vision was less great
Than some you scorned, it has not proved even so practicable; Lenine
Enters this pass with less reluctance. As to betrayals: there are so many
Betrayals, the Russians and the Germans know.”

He said “I knew I have enemies, I had not thought
To meet one at this brink: shall not the mocking voices die in the grave?”
It said “They shall. Soon there is silence.” “I dreamed this end,” he said, “when the prow
Of the long ship leaned against dawn, my people.

Applauded me, and the world watched me. Again
I dreamed it at Versailles, the time I sent for the ship, and the obstinate foreheads
That shared with me the settlement of the world flinched at my threat and yielded.
That is all gone. . . . Do I remember this darkness?”

It said “No man forgets it but a moment.
The darkness before the mother, the depth of the return.” “I thought,” he answered,
“That I was drawn out of this depth to establish the earth on peace. My labor
Dies with me, why was I drawn out of this depth?”

It said “Loyal to your highest, sensitive, brave,
Sanguine, some few ways wise, you and all men are drawn out of this depth
Only to be these things you are, as flowers for color, falcons for swiftness,
Mountains for mass and quiet. Each for its quality.

Is drawn out of this depth. Your tragic quality
Required the huge delusion of some major purpose to produce it.
What, that the God of the stars needed your help?” He said “This is my last
Worst pain, the bitter enlightenment that buys peace.”