Classic Poem

Should Jonathan and John fall out
The world would stagger from that bout.
With John and Jonathan at one
The world's great peace will have begun.

With Jonathan and John at war
The hour that havoc hungers for
Will strike, in ruin of blood and tears,—
The world set back a thousand years:

With John and Jonathan sworn to stand
Shoulder to shoulder, hand by hand,
Justice and peace shall build their throne
From tropic sea to frozen zone.

When Jonathan and John forget
The scar of an ancient wound to fret
And smile to think of an ancient feud
Which the God of the nations turned to good;

When the bond of a common creed and speech
And kindred binds them each to each,
And each in the other's victories
The pride of his own achievement sees,—

How paltry a thing they both will know
That grudge of a hundred years ago,—
How small that blemish of wrath and blame
In the blazonry of their common fame!