Classic and Contemporary Poetry
TO THE UNITED STATES SENATE, by NICHOLAS VACHEL LINDSAY Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: And must the senator from illinois Last Line: Of the popular term armageddon in present day politics.] Alternate Author Name(s): Lindsay, Vachel Subject(s): United States - Congress - Senate | ||||||||
The following verses were written on the evening of March the first, nineteen hundred and eleven, and printed next morning in the Illinois State Register. They celebrate the arrival of the news that the United States Senate had declared the election of William Lorimer good and valid, by a vote of forty-six to forty. [Revelation 16: Verses 16-19] And must the Senator from Illinois Be this squat thing, with blinking, half-closed eyes? This brazen gutter idol, reared to power Upon a leering pyramid of lies? And must the Senator from Illinois Be the world's proverb of successful shame, Dazzling all State house flies that steal and steal, Who, when the sad State spares them, count it fame? If once or twice within his new won hall His vote had counted for the broken men; If in his early days he wrought some good -- We might a great soul's sins forgive him then. But must the Senator from Illinois Be vindicated by fat kings of gold? And must he be belauded by the smirched, The sleek, uncanny chiefs in lies grown old? Be warned, O wanton ones, who shielded him -- Black wrath awaits. You all shall eat the dust. You dare not say: "To-morrow will bring peace; Let us make merry, and go forth in lust." What will you trading frogs do on a day When Armageddon thunders thro' the land; When each sad patriot rises, mad with shame, His ballot or his musket in his hand? In the distracted states from which you came The day is big with war hopes fierce and strange; Our iron Chicagos and our grimy mines Rumble with hate and love and solemn change. Too many weary men shed honest tears, Ground by machines that give the Senate ease. Too many little babes with bleeding hands Have heaped the fruits of empire on your knees. And swine within the Senate in this day, When all the smothering by-streets weep and wail; When wisdom breaks the hearts of her best sons; When kingly men, voting for truth, may fail: -- These are a portent and a call to arms. Our protest turns into a battle cry: "Our shame must end, our States be free and clean; And in this war we choose to live and die." [So far as the writer knows this is the first use of the popular term Armageddon in present day politics.] | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...ROBBED (LEAGUE OF NATIONS REPUDIATED BY U.S. SENATE) by ETHELEAN TYSON GAW THE VOICE OF WEBSTER by ROBERT UNDERWOOD JOHNSON THE BIGLOW PAPERS: 5. THE DEBATE IN THE SENNIT by JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL 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 LINCOLN by NICHOLAS VACHEL LINDSAY ON THE BUILDING OF SPRINGFIELD by NICHOLAS VACHEL LINDSAY SIMON LEGREE: NEGRO SERMON; MEMORIAL TO BOOKER T. WASHINGTON by NICHOLAS VACHEL LINDSAY THE BRONCHO THAT WOULD NOT BE BROKEN by NICHOLAS VACHEL LINDSAY THE CHINESE NIGHTINGALE; A SONG IN CHINESE TAPESTRIES by NICHOLAS VACHEL LINDSAY |
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