Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE CHRIST OF ARGENTINE, by WILLIAM STEWARD GORDON


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE CHRIST OF ARGENTINE, by                    
First Line: O, blood-red races, lift your eyes
Last Line: With christ of argentine!
Subject(s): Argentina; Chile; Peace; Statues; War


(In 1898, war between Chile and Argentine having been averted by
arbitration, a bronze statue of Christ was erected on the very summit of the
Andes, on the disputed boundary line, as a monument of perpetual peace.)

O, blood-red races, lift your eyes
Toward the Southern Cross!
Two valiant rivals rise above
The war clouds' direful loss.

And these the lands that once were torn
By the bloody Almagro—
Where freedom followed Bolivar
A hundred years ago!

How oft they trod the crimson path
The race itself hath trod,
And trampled on the flower of Peace,
That sacred flower of God.

But now on Andes' dazzling height,
The earth and heaven between,
They lift the nations' arbiter—
The Christ of Argentine!

Then come, thou sturdy Southern sons,
Receive thou each a star!
A nobler coronet you've won
Than e'er was won in war.

Your nitrate beds and sulphur mines
That fed the fumes of hell,
Shall hurl a thousand blessings now,
Instead of shot and shell.

And bleeding Mercy, lift thy head!
The race will yet be free!
The Christ of Peace has been enthroned
Where all the world can see.

Grim prophet of the Golden Dawn,
Majestic and serene,
The snowy peak thy pedestal,
Thou Christ of Argentine!

Let fair Aurora Australis
Use all her magic light
To paint a halo o'er thy head
On winter's silent night.

Then flash a signal to The Hague,
And one to heaven be hurled;
"The parliament of man appears,
The federated world!"

Forever hold thy regal throne,
The earth and heaven between,
Till all the tribes have joined their hands
With Christ of Argentine!





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