Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE WORLD IS ONE; DEDICATED TO WOODROW WILSON, by HINTON WHITE



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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE WORLD IS ONE; DEDICATED TO WOODROW WILSON, by                    
First Line: The world is one; we cannot live apart
Last Line: The travail and the triumph of the years.
Subject(s): League Of Nations; Religion; Wilson, Woodrow (1856-1924); Theology


The world is one; we cannot live apart;
To earth's remotest races we are kin;
God made the generations of one blood;
Man's separation is a sign of sin.

We breathe a common air, while sun and rain
And bounteous earth our every need supply;
Seed time is sure; the harvest fails us not;
The silent stars in beauty flood the sky.

For each thing lives to serve another's need
And serving thus, its own deep need is served.
This is the law; the centuries have seen
The planets in their courses have not swerved.

But all, harmonious, circling round the sun,
Each in its orbit, keep the balance true;
When like the planets man obeys the law,
Life more abundant shall his life renew.

Till then there is no peace in all the earth,
And though we pile our gold against the sky,
It cannot save us—when the vision fails,
Strive as we may and plead and question why.

" 'Tis from yourselves ye suffer," Buddha said,
The Nazarene proclaimed the soul's high call,
"Share all thou hast." Yet blindly has man lived
Each for himself, instead of each for all.

What though we solve the secret of the stars,
Or from the vibrant ether pluck a song?
Can this for all man's tyranny atone
While Mercy weeps and waits and suffers long?

And have those rare souls lived and died in vain
Who taught redemption cometh from within?
Lay low the walls of selfishness and hate;
Lift high the gates that Love may enter in.

Put up the sword, its day of anguish past;
Disarm the forts; and then, the war-flags furled,
Forever keep the air without frontiers,
The great, free, friendly highway of the world.

So that at last to rapture men may come
And hear again the music of the spheres
And stand erect, illumined, radiant, free,
The travail and the triumph of the years.





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