Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE WAY, by MAURICE EPSTEIN


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE WAY, by                    
First Line: There travel down, each time, each day
Last Line: And the sun goes red and the moon goes white.


THERE travel down, each time, each day,
Four tellers from the milky way:
In a veil of hate they cast their bait
And trap their prey in moulds of clay.
The moon goes red and the sun goes white;
The stars all whimper at the bloody sight;
And all men pray in a roundelay
For the things we are and the things we do
In the name of Good, the name of True.

There travel down, each time, each day,
Four labourers from beyond the way.
They stand foursquare in a riven space,
And nail each other fast, and lace
The cloven hoof with a woodman's brace.
And the apes pass by, led two and two,
And jeer and sneer with a lack-wit leer,
For a mirror shews them fear
And Jew.

There travel down, each time, each day,
Four judges from the wizards' way.
They name each one his own and stone
The jury of each other's play.
One false witness is a snare,
A liar's whine is a ragged tear;
For a cheat's boast is a Holy Ghost
To a coward's wince at a chosen post
In a garment sewn by wounds and hair.

There travel down, each time each day,
Four angels from the chosen way.
They guide each other in a blazing light
And stride and ride on each other's height.
They measure each within their reach
The spaces set for all and each.
They count in time a holy rhyme
And strum the harp in equal chime.

And the sun goes red and the moon goes white.





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