Page:Canadian poems of the great war.djvu/233

 A. C. Stewart

Creatures of the &quot;Cult of Prey,&quot;

Wallow through the crimson curds, Gasping grey grotesque philosophies above the shambled

herds.

But I, I am the Shell, Cosmic Judge of men and nations, whom no sophistry

can quell. How I hail in fierce ecstatics

Commerce and her bloodless sons, Howling deathless patriotics,

Hedged behind the belching guns. I m the venomed Scourge of Time, Proof and Penalty of Crime. I have scorched the Conqueror s laurels and made murder

unsublime ;

I have rung the Despot s knell, I am the Shell !

I m the High Explosive Shell, Coercion s Shell! King, when unmasked Diplomacy steps naked from her

cell. All the studied terms of guile,

In the loom of Falsehood wrought With the brain-entangling wile, Suddenly become as nought, And Rapine, savage, unrestrained, foams through the

breach he sought. Crude dissimulations cease,

Murder mounts his gory throne, Frenzy slits the throat of Peace-

In a trice to the Unknown

The spider webs of Plattitudes and Policies are blown. I m the Ego of these things Custom, Commerce, Cash and Kings, Who keeps their dupes, the brainless-born, careering

round in rings.

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