Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, WILLIAM II PRINCE OF PEACE, by GEORGE SYLVESTER VIERECK


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

WILLIAM II PRINCE OF PEACE, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: O prince of peace, o lord of war
Last Line: For if thou fail, a world shall fall!
Subject(s): William Ii, Kaiser Of Germany (1859-1941; World War I; First World War


O PRINCE OF PEACE, O Lord of War,
Unsheath thy blade without a stain,
Thy holy wrath shall scatter far
The bloodhounds from thy country's lane!
Into thy hand the sword is forced
By traitor friend and traitor foe,
On foot, on sea, and winged and horsed,
The Prince of Darkness strikes his blow.
Crush thou the Cossack arms that reach
To plunge the world into the night!
Save Goethe's vision, Luther's speech,
Thou art the Keeper of the Light!
When darkness was on all the lands,
Who kept God's faith with courage grim?
Shall He uphold His country's hands,
Or tear her members, limb from limb?
God called the Teuton to be free,
Free from Great Britain's golden thrall,
From guillotine and anarchy,
From pogroms red and whips that fall.
May thy victorious armies rout
The yellow hordes against thee hurled,
The Czar whose sceptre is the knout,
And France, the harlot of the world!
But thy great task will not be done
Until thou vanquish utterly
The Norman sister of the Hun,
England, the Serpent of the Sea.
The flame of war her tradesmen fanned
Shall yet consume her, fleet and field:
The star of Frederick guide thy hand,
The God of Bismarck be thy shield!
Against the fell Barbarian horde
Thy people stand, a living wall;
Now fight for God's peace with thy sword,
For if thou fail, a world shall fall!






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