Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE MILLENNIUM, by JAMES OPPENHEIM



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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE MILLENNIUM, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Ask for no mild millennium
Last Line: Stagnation and sin shall be there as surely as they are deep in our hearts.
Subject(s): Justice


ASK for no mild millennium:
Our world shall never be nobler than its inhabitants:
Never be nobler than you and I, blind brother.

What is this world but our secret natures opened and stamped into cities?
The smoke of the mills is only the vapor of our softcoal hearts:
The slums of the poor and the drab palaces of the rich are the filth of our spirits:
The curses of the world are but the unleashed beast in us roaming the streets.

Here and there is one shining among us:
He is not a conqueror of tools, but a conqueror of self:
He strides like a sun in the crowds, and people are glad of him:
He did not wait for a millennium to perfect him:
He did not see the need of sanitation and pure food to help him to a soul:
He wrestled with the antagonist in his own breast and emerged victorious.

Give us a hundred million such, and a greater world is upon us:
But give us only a perfect world, and it shall be a coat that misfits us.
Stagnation and sin shall be there as surely as they are deep in our hearts.





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