Chapter 4

The first time that Peter deniéd his Lord He had neither the Throne, nor the Keys nor the Sword-- A poor silly fisherman, what could he do When the cock crew--when the cock crew-- But weep for his wickedness when the cock crew?

* * * * *

The next time that Peter deniéd his Lord He was Fisher of Men, as foretold by the Word, With the Crown on his brow and the Cross on his shoe, When the cock crew--when the cock crew-- _In Flanders and Picardy when the cock crew_.

The next time that Peter deniéd his Lord 'Twas Mary the Mother in Heaven Who heard, And She grieved for the maidens and wives that they slew When the cock crew--when the cock crew-- _At Tirmonde and Aerschott when the cock crew_.

The next time that Peter deniéd his Lord The Babe in the Manger awakened and stirred, And He stretched out His arms for the playmates He knew-- When the cock crew--when the cock crew-- _But the waters had covered them when the cock crew_.

The next time that Peter deniéd his Lord 'Twas Earth in her agony waited his word, But he sat by the fire and naught would he do, Though the cock crew--though the cock crew-- _Over all Christendom, though the cock crew_.

The last time that Peter deniéd his Lord, The Father took from him the Keys and the Sword, And the Mother and Babe brake his Kingdom in two, When the cock crew--when the cock crew-- (_Because of his wickedness_) _when the cock crew_!

THE FEMALE OF THE SPECIES

1911

When the Himalayan peasant meets the he-bear in his pride, He shouts to scare the monster, who will often turn aside. But the she-bear thus accosted rends the peasant tooth and nail For the female of the species is more deadly than the male.

When Nag the basking cobra hears the careless foot of man, He will sometimes wriggle sideways and avoid it as he can. But his mate makes no such motion where she camps beside the trail. For the female of the species is more deadly than the male.

When the early Jesuit fathers preached to Hurons and Choctaws, They prayed to be delivered from the vengeance of the squaws. 'Twas the women, not the warriors, turned those stark enthusiasts pale For the female of the species is more deadly than the male.

Man's timid heart is bursting with the things he must not say, For the Woman that God gave him isn't his to give away; But when hunter meets with husband, each confirms the other's tale-- The female of the species is more deadly than the male.

Man, a bear in most relations--worm and savage otherwise,-- Man propounds negotiations, Man accepts the compromise. Very rarely will he squarely push the logic of a fact To its ultimate conclusion in unmitigated act.

Fear, or foolishness, impels him, ere he lay the wicked low, To concede some form of trial even to his fiercest foe. Mirth obscene diverts his anger! Doubt and Pity oft perplex Him in dealing with an issue--to the scandal of The Sex!

But the Woman that God gave him, every fibre of her frame Proves her launched for one sole issue, armed and engined for the same; And to serve that single issue, lest the generations fail, The female of the species must be deadlier than the male.

She who faces Death by torture for each life beneath her breast May not deal in doubt or pity--must not swerve for fact or jest. These be purely male diversions--not in these her honour dwells. She the Other Law we live by, is that Law and nothing else.

She can bring no more to living than the powers that make her great As the Mother of the Infant and the Mistress of the Mate! And when Babe and Man are lacking and she strides unclaimed to claim Her right as femme (and baron), her equipment is the same.

She is wedded to convictions--in default of grosser ties; Her contentions are her children, Heaven help him who denies!-- He will meet no suave discussion, but the instant, white-hot, wild, Wakened female of the species warring as for spouse and child.

Unprovoked and awful charges--even so the she-bear fights, Speech that drips, corrodes, and poisons--even so the cobra bites, Scientific vivisection of one nerve till it is raw And the victim writhes in anguish--like the Jesuit with the squaw!

So it comes that Man the coward, when he gathers to confer With his fellow-braves in council, dare not leave a place for her Where, at war with Life and Conscience, he uplifts his erring hands To some God of Abstract Justice--which no woman understands.

And Man knows it! Knows, moreover, that the Woman that God gave him Must command but may not govern--shall enthral but not enslave him. And _She_ knows, because She warns him and Her instincts never fail, That the Female of Her Species is more deadly than the Male.

EPITAPHS

'EQUALITY OF SACRIFICE'

_A._ 'I was a "have."' _B._ 'I was a "have-not."' (_Together_) 'What hast thou given which I gave not?'

A SERVANT

We were together since the War began He was my servant--and the better man.

A SON

My son was killed while laughing at some jest. I would I knew What it was, and it might serve me in a time when jests are few.

AN ONLY SON

I have slain none except my Mother, She (Blessing her slayer) died of grief for me.

EX-CLERK

Pity not! The Army gave Freedom to a timid slave: In which Freedom did he find Strength of body, will, and mind: By which strength he came to prove Mirth, Companionship, and Love: For which Love to Death he went: In which Death he lies content.

THE WONDER

Body and Spirit I surrendered whole To harsh Instructors--and received a soul ... If mortal man could change me through and through From all I was--what may The God not do?

HINDU SEPOY IN FRANCE

This man in his own country prayed we know not to what Powers. We pray Them to reward him for his bravery in ours.

THE COWARD

I could not look on Death, which being known, Men led me to him, blindfold and alone.

SHOCK

My name, my speech, my self I had forgot. My wife and children came--I knew them not. I died. My Mother followed. At her call And on her bosom I remembered all.

A GRAVE NEAR CAIRO

Gods of the Nile, should this stout fellow here Get out--get out! He knows not shame nor fear.

PELICANS IN THE WILDERNESS

(A GRAVE NEAR HALFA)

The blown sand heaps on me, that none may learn Where I am laid for whom my children grieve.... O wings that beat at dawning, ye return Out of the desert to your young at eve!

THE FAVOUR

Death favoured me from the first, well knowing I could not endure To wait on him day by day. He quitted my betters and came Whistling over the fields, and, when he had made all sure, 'Thy line is at end,' he said, 'but at least I have saved its name.'

THE BEGINNER

On the first hour of my first day In the front trench I fell. (Children in boxes at a play Stand up to watch it well.)

R. A. F. (AGED EIGHTEEN)

Laughing through clouds, his milk-teeth still unshed, Cities and men he smote from overhead. His deaths delivered, he returned to play Childlike, with childish things now put away.

THE REFINED MAN

I was of delicate mind. I went aside for my needs, Disdaining the common office. I was seen from afar and killed.... How is this matter for mirth? Let each man be judged by his deeds _I have paid my price to live with myself on the terms that I willed._

NATIVE WATER-CARRIER (M. E. F.)

Prometheus brought down fire to men. This brought up water. The Gods are jealous--now, as then, They gave no quarter.

BOMBED IN LONDON

On land and sea I strove with anxious care To escape conscription. It was in the air!

THE SLEEPY SENTINEL

Faithless the watch that I kept: now I have none to keep. I was slain because I slept: now I am slain I sleep. Let no man reproach me again, whatever watch is unkept-- I sleep because I am slain. They slew me because I slept.

BATTERIES OUT OF AMMUNITION

If any mourn us in the workshop, say We died because the shift kept holiday.

COMMON FORM

If any question why we died, Tell them, because our fathers lied.

A DEAD STATESMAN

I could not dig; I dared not rob: Therefore I lied to please the mob. Now all my lies are proved untrue, And I must face the men I slew. What tale shall save me here among Mine angry and defrauded young?

THE REBEL

If I had clamoured at Thy Gate For gift of Life on Earth, And, thrusting through the souls that wait, Flung headlong into birth-- Even then, even then, for gin and snare About my pathway spread, Lord, I had mocked Thy thoughtful care Before I joined the Dead! But now?... I was beneath Thy Hand Ere yet the Planets came. And now--though Planets pass, I stand The witness to Thy Shame.

THE OBEDIENT

Daily, though no ears attended, Did my prayers arise Daily, though no fire descended Did I sacrifice.... Though my darkness did not lift, Though I faced no lighter odds, Though the Gods bestowed no gift, None the less, None the less, I served the Gods!

A DRIFTER OFF TARENTUM

He from the wind-bitten north with ship and companions descended, Searching for eggs of death spawned by invisible hulls. Many he found and drew forth. Of a sudden the fishery ended In flame and a clamorous breath not new to the eye-pecking gulls.

DESTROYERS IN COLLISION

For Fog and Fate no charm is found To lighten or amend. I, hurrying to my bride, was drowned-- Cut down by my best friend.

CONVOY ESCORT

I was a shepherd to fools Causelessly bold or afraid. They would not abide by my rules. Yet they escaped. For I stayed.

UNKNOWN FEMALE CORPSE

Headless, lacking foot and hand, Horrible I come to land. I beseech all women's sons Know I was a mother once.

RAPED AND REVENGED

One used and butchered me: another spied Me broken--for which thing a hundred died. So it was learned among the heathen hosts How much a freeborn woman's favour costs.

SALONIKAN GRAVE

I have watched a thousand days Push out and crawl into night Slowly as tortoises Now I, too, follow these. It is fever, and not fight-- Time, not battle--that slays.

THE BRIDEGROOM

Call me not false, beloved, If, from thy scarce-known breast So little time removed, In other arms I rest.

For this more ancient bride Whom coldly I embrace Was constant at my side Before I saw thy face.

Our marriage, often set-- By miracle delayed-- At last is consummate, And cannot be unmade.

Live, then, whom Life shall cure, Almost, of Memory, And leave us to endure Its immortality.

V. A. D. (MEDITERRANEAN)

Ah, would swift ships had never been, for then we ne'er had found, These harsh Ægean rocks between, this little virgin drowned, Whom neither spouse nor child shall mourn, but men she nursed through pain And--certain keels for whose return the heathen look in vain.

'THE CITY OF BRASS'

1909

Here was a people whom after their works thou shalt see wept over for their lost dominion: and in this palace is the last information respecting lords collected in the dust.

_The Arabian Nights_

_In a land that the sand overlays--the ways to her gates are untrod-- A multitude ended their days whose fates were made splendid by God, Till they grew drunk and were smitten with madness and went to their fall, And of these is a story written: but Allah alone knoweth all!_

When the wine stirred in their heart their bosoms dilated, They rose to suppose themselves kings over all things created-- To decree a new earth at a birth without labour or sorrow-- To declare: 'We prepare it to-day and inherit to-morrow.' They chose themselves prophets and priests of minute understanding, Men swift to see done, and outrun, their extremest commanding-- Of the tribe which describe with a jibe the perversions of Justice-- Panders avowed to the crowd whatsoever its lust is.

Swiftly these pulled down the walls that their fathers had made them-- The impregnable ramparts of old, they razed and relaid them As playgrounds of pleasure and leisure with limitless entries, And havens of rest for the wastrels where once walked the sentries; And because there was need of more pay for the shouters and marchers, They disbanded in face of their foemen their bowmen and archers. They replied to their well-wishers' fears--to their enemies' laughter, Saying: 'Peace! We have fashioned a God Which shall save us hereafter. We ascribe all dominion to man in his factions conferring, And have given to numbers the Name of the Wisdom unerring.' They said: 'Who has hate in his soul? Who has envied his neighbour? Let him arise and control both that man and his labour.' They said: 'Who is eaten by sloth? Whose unthrift has destroyed him? He shall levy a tribute from all because none have employed him.' They said: 'Who hath toiled? Who hath striven, and gathered possession? Let him be spoiled. He hath given full proof of transgression.' They said. 'Who is irked by the Law? _Though we may not remove it, If he lend us his aid in this raid, we will set him above it!_' So the robber did judgment again upon such as displeased him, The slayer, too, boasted his slain, and the judges released him.

As for their kinsmen far off, on the skirts of the nation, They harried all earth to make sure none escaped reprobation, They awakened unrest for a jest in their newly-won borders, And jeered at the blood of their brethren betrayed by their orders. They instructed the ruled to rebel, their rulers to aid them; And, since such as obeyed them not fell, their Viceroys obeyed them. When the riotous set them at naught they said: 'Praise the upheaval! For the show and the word and the thought of Dominion is evil!'

They unwound and flung from them with rage, as a rag that defiled them The imperial gains of the age which their forefathers piled them. They ran panting in haste to lay waste and embitter for ever The wellsprings of Wisdom and Strength which are Faith and Endeavour. They nosed out and digged up and dragged forth and exposed to derision All doctrine of purpose and worth and restraint and prevision: And it ceased, and God granted them all things for which they had striven, And the heart of a beast in the place of a man's heart was given....

* * * * *

When they were fullest of wine and most flagrant in error, Out of the sea rose a sign--out of Heaven a terror. Then they saw, then they heard, then they knew--for none troubled to hide it, An host had prepared their destruction, but still they denied it. They denied what they dared not abide if it came to the trial, But the Sword that was forged while they lied did not heed their denial. It drove home, and no time was allowed to the crowd that was driven. The preposterous-minded were cowed--they thought time would be given. There was no need of a steed nor a lance to pursue them; It was decreed their own deed, and not chance, should undo them The tares they had laughingly sown were ripe to the reaping, The trust they had leagued to disown was removed from their keeping. The eaters of other men's bread, the exempted from hardship, The excusers of impotence fled, abdicating their wardship. For the hate they had taught through the State brought the State no defender, And it passed from the roll of the Nations in headlong surrender.

JUSTICE

OCTOBER 1918

_Across a world where all men grieve And grieving strive the more, The great days range like tides and leave Our dead on every shore. Heavy the load we undergo, And our own hands prepare, If we have parley with the foe, The load our sons must bear._

Before we loose the word That bids new worlds to birth, Needs must we loosen first the sword Of Justice upon earth; Or else all else is vain Since life on earth began, And the spent world sinks back again Hopeless of God and Man.

A people and their King Through ancient sin grown strong, Because they feared no reckoning Would set no bound to wrong; But now their hour is past, And we who bore it find Evil Incarnate held at last To answer to mankind.

For agony and spoil Of nations beat to dust, For poisoned air and tortured soil And cold, commanded lust, And every secret woe The shuddering waters saw-- Willed and fulfilled by high and low-- Let them relearn the Law.

That when the dooms are read, Not high nor low shall say:-- 'My haughty or my humble head Has saved me in this day.' That, till the end of time, Their remnant shall recall Their fathers' old, confederate crime Availed them not at all.

That neither schools nor priests, Nor Kings may build again A people with the heart of beasts Made wise concerning men. Whereby our dead shall sleep In honour, unbetrayed, And we in faith and honour keep That peace for which they paid.

Printed by T and A CONSTABLE, Printers to His Majesty at the Edinburgh University Press