The dragons of the air,
  The hell-hounds of the deep,
  Lurking and prowling everywhere,
  Go forth to seek their helpless prey,
  Not knowing whom they maim or slay—­
  Mad harvesters, who care not what they reap.

  Out with the tranquil lights,
  Out with the lights that burn
  For love and law and human rights! 
  Set back the clock a thousand years: 
  All they have gained now disappears,
  And the dark ages suddenly return.

  Kaiser, who loosed wild death,
  And terror in the night,
  God grant you draw no quiet breath,
  Until the madness you began
  Is ended, and long-suffering man,
  Set free from war lords, cries, “Let there be Light.”

October, 1915.

Read at the meeting of the American Academy, Boston, November, 1915.

REMARKS ABOUT KINGS

“God said I am tired of kings.”—­EMERSON.

  God said, “I am tired of kings,”—­
  But that was a long while ago! 
  And meantime man said, “No,—­
  I like their looks in their robes and rings.” 
  So he crowned a few more,
  And they went on playing the game as before,
  Fighting and spoiling things.

  Man said, “I am tired of kings! 
  Sons of the robber-chiefs of yore,
  They make me pay for their lust and their war;
  I am the puppet, they pull the strings;
  The blood of my heart is the wine they drink. 
  I will govern myself for awhile I think,
  And see what that brings!”

  Then God, who made the first remark,
  Smiled in the dark.

October, 1915.

Read at the meeting of the American Academy, Boston, November, 1915.

MIGHT AND RIGHT

  If Might made Right, life were a wild-beasts’ cage;
  If Right made Might, this were the golden age;
  But now, until we win the long campaign,
  Right must gain Might to conquer and to reign.

July 1, 1915.

THE PRICE OF PEACE

  Peace without Justice is a low estate,—­
  A coward cringing to an iron Fate! 
  But Peace through Justice is the great ideal,—­
  We’ll pay the price of war to make it real.

December 28, 1916.

STORM-MUSIC

  O Music hast thou only heard
  The laughing river, the singing bird,
  The murmuring wind in the poplar-trees,—­
  Nothing but Nature’s melodies? 
    Nay, thou hearest all her tones,
      As a Queen must hear! 
      Sounds of wrath and fear,
      Mutterings, shouts, and moans,
    Madness, tumult, and despair,—­
    All she has that shakes the air
    With voices fierce and wild! 
  Thou art a Queen and not a dreaming child,—­
  Put on thy crown and let us hear thee reign
  Triumphant in a world of storm and strain!