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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


MARY ON AUGUST THE FIRST by FENTON JOHNSON

First Line: I HEARD THE VOICE OF MARY IN THE COOL OF EVENING
Last Line: "AND THRICE FORGETFUL OF THE CHARIOT OF PROGRESS."
Subject(s): MARY. MOTHER OF JESUS; WOMEN IN THE BIBLE; VIRGIN MARY;

I heard the voice of Mary in the cool of evening:
"Oh why the devastation of the golden wheatlands?
Oh why the burning of the villages and homelands?
My shrines are broken, and my statue changed to bullets,
My lowly Son is once again a God rejected,
And all my children walk the way of life in darkness."

I bowed to earth my head, and thus I answered Mary:
"That we might gather in the vineyard empty glory,
That we might wear a ribbon and a wreath of laurel,
We hurl to Hell a million souls and go our way,
The laughing demons of an age whose God is sleeping,
Forgetful of the women and the little children,
And thrice forgetful of the chariot of progress."



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