Page:Poems of the Great War - Cunliffe.djvu/268

 242 MARION C. SMITH

��HEART OF ALL THE WORLD

(Belgium)

He ARTSTRUCK she stand s — Our Lady of all Sorrows — Circled with ruin, sunk in deep amaze ;

Facing the shadow of her dark to-morrows, Mourning the glory of her yesterdays.

Yet is she queen by every royal token.

There, where the storm of desolation swirled :

Crowned only with the thorn — despoiled and broken — Her kingdom is the heart of all the world.

She made her breast a shield, her sword a splendor, She rose like flame upon the darkened ways ;

So, through the anguish of her proud surrender Breaks the clear vision of undying praise.

— Marion C. Smith.

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