Page:The Statues in the Block and Other Poems (1881).djvu/53

Rh Is crowned with flowers and tender leaves and grass, And smiles benignly; and the other One, With sadly pitying eyes, is crowned with thorns: O Nature, and O Christ, for men to love And seek and live by—Thine the dual reign— The health and hope and happiness of men!

Behold our faith and fruit!

What demon laughs?

Behold our books, Our schools, our states, Where Christ and Nature are the daily word; Behold our dealings between man and man, Our laws for home, our treaties for abroad; Behold our honor, honesty, and freedom, And, last, our brotherhood! For we are born In Christian times and ruled by Christian rules!

Bah! God is mild, or he would strike the world As men should smite a liar on the mouth.