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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
ABOVE THE BATTLE'S FRONT, by NICHOLAS VACHEL LINDSAY Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Oh foolish people, and without understanding Last Line: Thorn-crowned above the water and the land. Alternate Author Name(s): Lindsay, Vachel Subject(s): Buddhism; Evil; Francis Assisi, Saint (1181-1226); Hate; Jesus Christ; John The Baptist, Saint (1st Century); Saints; Social Protest; Tolstoy, Leo (1828-1910); War; Buddha; Buddhists | |||
Oh foolish people, and without understanding; that have eyes and see not. St. Francis, Buddha, Tolstoi, and Saint John Friends, if you four, as pilgrims, hand in hand, Returned, the hate of earth once more to dare, And walked upon the water and the land, If you, with words celestial, stopped these kings For sober conclave, ere their battle great, Would they for one deep instant then discern Their crime, their heart-rot, and their fiends' estate? If you should float above the battle's front, Pillars of cloud, of fire that does not slay, Bearing a fifth within your regal train, The Son of David in his strange array If, in his majesty, he towered toward Heaven, Would they have hearts to see or understand? ... Nay, for he hovers there to-night we know, Thorn-crowned above the water and the land. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...DEATH SUNYATA CHANT: A RITE FOR PASSING OVER by DIANE DI PRIMA I FAIL AS A DHARMA TEACHER by DIANE DI PRIMA TO THE UNNAMED BUDDHIST NUN WHO BURNED HERSELF TO DEATH by DIANE DI PRIMA A FIFTEENTH CENTURY ZEN MASTER by NORMAN DUBIE GHOSTS ON THE NORTHERN LAND OF UR; CIRCA 2100 C.E. by NORMAN DUBIE POEM FOR MY FRIEND, CLARE. OR, WITH WHITE STUPAS WE REMEMBER BUDDHA by NORMAN DUBIE LADAKH BUDDHESS BIKER by LAWRENCE FERLINGHETTI FURTHER ADVANTAGES OF LEARNING by KENNETH REXROTH A NET TO SNARE THE MOONLIGHT by NICHOLAS VACHEL LINDSAY ABRAHAM LINCOLN WALKS AT MIDNIGHT by NICHOLAS VACHEL LINDSAY GENERAL WILLIAM BOOTH ENTERS INTO HEAVEN by NICHOLAS VACHEL LINDSAY |
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