Page:Poems (1915) G K Chesterton.djvu/85

 And his high task grows perilous that mixes them in paints.

Keep you the ancient order; follov the men that knew

The labyrinth of black and white, the maze of green and blue;

Paint mighty things, paint paltry things, paint silly things or sweet.

But if men break the Charter, you may slay them in the street.

And if you paint one post for them, then but you know it well,

You paint a harlot's face to drag all heroes down to hell."

Almighty God to all mankind on Christmas Day said He:

"I rent you from the old red hills and, rending, made you free.

There was charter, there vas challenge; in a blast of breath I gave;

You can be all things other; you cannot be a slave.

You shall be tired and tolerant of fancies as they fade,

But if men doubt the Charter, ye shall call on the Crusade—

Trumpet and torch and catapult, cannon and bow and blade,

Because it vas My challenge to all the things I made."