Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, CARNAGE: 1. DOUBT, by PERCY MACKAYE


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

CARNAGE: 1. DOUBT, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: So thin, so frail the opalescent ice
Last Line: Is hell so near to every human heart?
Alternate Author Name(s): Mackaye, Percy Wallace
Subject(s): Doubt; Peace; Sacrifices; Survival; World War I; Skepticism; First World War


SO thin, so frail the opalescent ice
Where yesterday, in lordly pageant, rose
The monumental nations — the repose
Of continents at peace! Realities
Solid as earth they seemed; yet in a trice
Their bastions crumbled in the surging floes
Of unconceivable, inhuman woes,
Gulfed in a mad, unmeaning sacrifice.

We, who survive that world-quake, cower and start,
Searching our hidden souls with dark surmise:
So thin, so frail — is reason? Patient art —
Is it all a mockery, and love all lies?
Who sees the lurking Hun in childhood's eyes?
Is hell so near to every human heart?





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