THE PEACE OF DIVES

The Word came down to Satan that raged and roared alone, 'Mid the shouting of the peoples by the cannon overthrown

(But the Prophets, Saints, and Seers

Set each other by the ears,

For each would claim the marvel as his own):

'Rise up, rise up, thou Satan, upon the Earth to go, And prove the peace of Dives if it be good or no: For all that he hath planned

We deliver to thy hand,

As thy skill shall serve to break it or bring low.'

Then mightily rose Satan, and about the Earth he hied, And breathed on Kings in idleness and Princes drunk with pride;

But for all the wrong he breathed

There was never sword unsheathed,

And the fires he lighted flickered out and died.

Then terribly rose Satan, and he darkened Earth afar, Till he came on cunning Dives where the moneychangers are;

And he saw men pledge their gear

For the gold that buys the spear,

And the helmet and the habergeon of war.

Yea to Dives came the Persian and the Syrian and the Mede

And their hearts were nothing altered, nor their cunning

nor their greed

And they pledged their flocks and farms

For the king-compelling arms,

And Dives lent according to their need.

Then Satan said to Dives:-'Return again with me, Who hast broken His Commandment in the day He set thee free,

Who grindest for thy greed,

Man's belly-pinch and need;

And the blood of Man to filthy usury!'

Then softly answered Dives where the money-changers sit:

'My refuge is Our Master, O My Master in the Pit; But behold all Earth is laid

In the peace which I have made,

And behold I wait on thee to trouble it!'

Then angrily turned Satan, and about the Seas he fled, To shake the new-sown peoples with insult, doubt, and dread;

But for all the sleight he used

There was never squadron loosed,

And the brands he flung flew dying and fell dead.

Yet to Dives came Atlantis and the Captains of the West

And their hates were nothing weakened, nor their anger nor unrest

And they pawned their utmost trade

For the dry, decreeing blade;

And Dives lent and took of them their best.

Then Satan said to Dives:-'Declare thou by The Name, The secret of thy subtlety that turneth mine to shame. It is known through all the Hells

How my peoples mocked my spells,

And my faithless Kings denied me ere I came.'

THE PEACE OF DIVES

Then answered cunning Dives: 'Do not gold and hate abide

At the heart of every Magic, yea, and senseless fear beside?

With gold and fear and hate

I have harnessed state to state,

And with hate and fear and gold their hates are tied.

"For hate men seek a weapon, for fear they seek a shieldKeener blades and broader targes than their frantic neighbours wield

For gold I arm their hands,

And for gold I buy their lands,

And for gold I sell their enemies the yield.

"Their nearest foes may purchase, or their farthest friends may lease,

One by one from Ancient Accad to the Islands of the Seas.

And their covenants they make

For the naked iron's sake,

But I-I trap them armoured into peace.

"The flocks that Egypt pledged me to Assyria I drave, And Pharaoh hath the increase of the herds that Sargon

gave.

Not for Ashdod overthrown

Will the Kings destroy their own,

Or their peoples wake the strife they feign to brave.

'Is not Calno like Carchemish? For the steeds of their

desire

They have sold me seven harvests that I sell to Crown

ing Tyre;

And the Tyrian sweeps the plains

With a thousand hired wains,

And the Cities keep the peace and-share the hire.

'Hast thou seen the pride of Moab? For the swords about his path,

His bond is to Philistia, in half of all he hath.

And he dare not draw the sword

Till Gaza give the word,

And he show release from Askalon and Gath.

'Wilt thou call again thy peoples, wilt thou craze anew thy Kings?

Lo! my lightnings pass before thee, and their whistling servant brings,

Ere the drowsy street hath stirred

Every masked and midnight word,

And the nations break their fast upon these things.

'So I make a jest of Wonder, and a mock of Time and

Space,

The roofless Seas an hostel, and the Earth a market

place,

Where the anxious traders know

Each is surety for his foe,

And none may thrive without his fellows' grace.

'Now this is all my subtlety and this is all my wit,

God give thee good enlightenment, My Master in the Pit.

But behold all Earth is laid

In the peace which I have made,

And behold I wait on thee to trouble it!'

SOUTH AFRICA

(1903)

IVED a woman wonderful,

(May the Lord amend her!) Neither simple, kind, nor true,

But her Pagan beauty drew
Christian gentlemen a few
Hotly to attend her.

Christian gentlemen a few
From Berwick unto Dover;
For she was South Africa,
And she was South Africa,

She was our South Africa,
Africa all over!

Half her land was dead with drouth,
Half was red with battle;
She was fenced with fire and sword,
Plague on pestilence outpoured,
Locusts on the greening sward
And murrain on the cattle!

True, ah true, and overtrue;
That is why we love her!
For she is South Africa,