Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, MIDNIGHT - THE 31ST OF DECEMBER, 1900, by STEPHEN PHILLIPS


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

MIDNIGHT - THE 31ST OF DECEMBER, 1900, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Lo! Now on the midnight the soul of the century passing
Last Line: "and victory followeth me."
Subject(s): Jesus Christ; Night; War; Bedtime


Lo! now on the midnight the soul of the century passing,
And on midnight the voice of the Lord!

"In the years that shall be I will bind me nation to nation
And shore unto shore," saith our God.
"For this cause I will make of your warfare a terrible thing,
A thing impossible, vain;
For a man shall set his hand to a handle and wither
Invisible armies and fleets,
And a lonely man with a breath shall exterminate armies,
With a whisper annihilate fleets;
And the captain shall sit in his chamber and level a city,
The far-off capital city.
Then the Tsar that dreameth in snow and broodeth in winter,
That foiled dreamer in frost,
And the Teuton Emperor then, and the Gaul and the Briton
Shall cease from impossible war,
Discarding their glittering legions, armadas of iron,
As children toys that are old.
As a man hath been brought, I will bring unto judgment a nation;
Nor shall numbers be pleaded for sin.
And that people to whom I gave in commission the ocean
To use my waters for right,
Let them look to the inward things, to the searching of spirit,
And cease from boasting and noise.
Then nation shall cleave unto nation, and Babel shall fall;
They shall speak in a common tongue,
And the soul of the Gaul shall leap to the soul of the Briton
Through all disguises and shows;
And soul shall speak unto soul—I weary of tongues,
I weary of babble and strife.

Lo! I am the bonder and knitter together of spirits,
I dispense with nations and shores."

"Lo! I am the burster of bonds and the breaker of barriers—
I am he that shall free," saith the Lord.
"For the lingering battle, the contest of ages is ending,
And victory followeth Me."





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