Classic Poem

FOR THE CONFERENCE AT WASHINGTON, NOVEMBER, 1921

Lord God, on hurrying feet
At last the nations meet!
Breathless, the envoys sent
To this Divine event
Come with their wistful eyes.
Now has the world grown wise,
And ancient hates seem done;
Hushed are loud cannon and gun.
The earth awaits one word:
Peace for Thy people, Lord!

O, shall it be at last
That War and Pain are past?
Is this the hour, O Lord,
When men put by the sword
And sink beneath the tide
Their falseness and their pride?
The smoke of battle dies,
The sun is in Thy skies.
Trembling, we wait one word:
Peace for Thy people, Lord!

Lord, let us not go back
Through the long ruin and wrack,
Through the sad, bleeding years,
Crowded with death and tears.
If now the nations fail,
If Love should not prevail,
Ours be the guilt and shame
Who called upon Thy name
And faltered at the word:
Peace for Thy people, Lord!

It cannot be that Thou
Wilt fail the nations now!
Fortress and arsenal
In a great clamor fall;
Gigantic ships go down
By many a seacoast town;
War and the hosts of hell
Are gone, and all is well!
The earth shall hear the word:
Peace for Thy people, Lord!