Classic Poem

From homes on which the sun has set
To you whose sun is long o'erdue
To melt the groaning gloom, to you
From hearts hope-cheated, bleeding yet
From your betrayal,—to you we cry:
“It is high time for hate to die!
Forgive! Forget!”

“It is high time for hate to die!—
Forgive imperial wrongs that wet
With blood and tears the Past, forget
The black blaspheming murdering Lie
They taught you, and the proud pretense
When fools fought fools in self-defense,
And all asked ‘Why’?”

“When youth fought youth in self-defense,
And good men perish'd at the wall
Of hate their rulers reared, and all
Were guilty of the same offense! …
Forget the anguish and the pain!
Forgive the blindness of the slain!—
A world repents! …”


“Forgive the ardor of the slain
Who perish'd in that iron net
Of hate and war, and those who met
Defeat and doom on truth's white plain—
Your prisoners—O, set them Free!
Forget! forgive! And let us be
Reborn again!”