The dusts of ages cover All the "Cities of the Plain"— Babylon and Nineveh and Ur. The one-time fertile soil That fed the nations of the past Now forms their common sepulcher, While senseless Waste today Rips from the womb Of Mother Earth the unborn Life of ages yet to come— Brings on, doom-fraught, The rising blast To sweep the modern nations With the dust-heaps of the past. Naught but proven knowledge, Directing honest toil, And the moving thought Of peace on earth, Good will towards men Can save the soil— Perhaps the soul— From the dusty destiny Of Oblivion. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...CAROL: NEW STYLE by STEPHEN VINCENT BENET TO W.E.B. DUBOIS - SCHOLAR by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON THE GHOST OF DEACON BROWN by JAMES WELDON JOHNSON SUGGESTED BY THE COVER OF A VOLUME OF KEATS'S POEMS by AMY LOWELL SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY: ADAM WEIRAUCH by EDGAR LEE MASTERS JOE HILL LISTENS TO THE PRAYING by KENNETH PATCHEN BEFORE THE FLOWERS OF FRIENDSHIP FADED FADED: 21 by GERTRUDE STEIN |