Page:Main Street and other poems, Kilmer, 1917.djvu/78

MAIN STREET AND OTHER POEMS

THE CATHEDRAL OF RHEIMS (continued) The guardian Saints into this furnace fell,

Their bitter tears and screams were stilled in death.

Around the flames armed hosts are skirmishing,

The burning sun reflects the lurid scene;

The German army, fighting for its life,

Rallies its torn and terrified left wing;

And, as they near this place

The imperial eagles see

Before them in their flight,

Here, in the solemn night,

The old cathedral, to the years to be

Showing, with wounded arms, their own disgrace. [ 72 ]