Page:Main Street and other poems, Kilmer, 1917.djvu/76

MAIN STREET AND OTHER POEMS

THE CATHEDRAL OF RHEIMS (continued) Cannon, horses, soldiers, flags in line—

With blare of trumpets, mighty armies come.

Suddenly, each knows fear;

Swift rumours pass, that every one must hear,

The hostile banners blaze against the sky

And by the embassies mobs rage and cry.

Now war has come, and peace is at an end.

On Paris town the German troops descend.

They are turned back, and driven to Champagne.

And now, as to so many weary men,

The glorious temple gives them welcome, when

It meets them at the bottom of the plain.

At once, they set their cannon in its way.

There is no gable now, nor wall

That does not suffer, night and day,

As shot and shell in crushing torrents fall.

The stricken tocsin quivers through the tower;

The triple nave, the apse, the lonely choir

Are circled, hour by hour,

With thundering bands of fire

And Death is scattered broadcast among men.

[ 70 ]