A piastre, O night! for a crust of mirth 'Mid sorrow, plight, and war grown salutary. A piastre, O moon! thou withered dame of lustrous Ray, for the swooning tresses of youthful fire That teemed like the skins of snakes in gold. A piastre, O stars! with the lidless eyes for your lights Of love, and gleams of prayer and joys that curled In the children's hair, in the dreams of youth 'mid the things That lived to the whir of the things that are. A piastre, O desert! with thy sandy floor, With thy blasting blizzard and caravan, For the Wizard of Peace, though his eyes are dimmed In the blazing and streaming of war; For there's a Flag with Stars on thy cold grey face And Stripes interweaving to strangle old Mars. A piastre, O night! stars, desert, and moon! Soon kissed by these colours that wave in far lands,— France, Belgium, Italia, and Egypt,—perchance The Oasis of Peace will rise there in the sands. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE HILL ABOVE THE MINE by MALCOLM COWLEY DIVIDE by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON MY HAPPINESS by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON RETROSPECTION by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON ODE TO THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY by SIDNEY LANIER MATER AMABILIS by EMMA LAZARUS |