<h3> <SPAN name="feast"></SPAN> THE RED FEAST </h3>
<p class="poem">
Go fight, you fools! Tear up the earth with strife<br/>
And spill each others guts upon the field;<br/>
Serve unto death the men you served in life<br/>
So that their wide dominions may not yield.<br/></p>
<p class="poem">
Stand by the flag—the lie that still allures;<br/>
Lay down your lives for land you do not own,<br/>
And give unto a war that is not yours<br/>
Your gory tithe of mangled flesh and bone.<br/></p>
<p class="poem">
But whether it be yours to fall or kill<br/>
You must not pause to question why nor where.<br/>
You see the tiny crosses on that hill?<br/>
It took all those to make one millionaire.<br/></p>
<p class="poem">
It was for him the seas of blood were shed,<br/>
That fields were razed and cities lit the sky;<br/>
And now he comes to chortle o'er the dead—<br/>
The condor Thing for whom the millions die!<br/></p>
<p class="poem">
The bugle screams, the cannons cease to roar.<br/>
"Enough! enough! God give us peace again."<br/>
The rats, the maggots and the Lords of War<br/>
Are fat to bursting from their meal of men.<br/></p>
<p class="poem">
So stagger back, you stupid dupes who've "won,"<br/>
Back to your stricken towns to toil anew,<br/>
For there your dismal tasks are still undone<br/>
And grim Starvation gropes again for you.<br/></p>
<p class="poem">
What matters now your flag, your race, the skill<br/>
Of scattered legions—what has been the gain?<br/>
Once more beneath the lash you must distil<br/>
Your lives to glut a glory wrought of pain.<br/></p>
<p class="poem">
In peace they starve you to your loathsome toil,<br/>
In war they drive you to the teeth of Death;<br/>
And when your life-blood soaks into their soil<br/>
They give you lies to choke your dying breath.<br/></p>
<p class="poem">
So will they smite your blind eyes till you see,<br/>
And lash your naked backs until you know<br/>
That wasted blood can never set you free<br/>
From fettered thraldom to the Common Foe.<br/></p>
<p class="poem">
Then you will find that "nation" is a name<br/>
And boundaries are things that don't exist;<br/>
That Labor's bondage, worldwide, is the same,<br/>
And ONE the enemy it must resist.<br/></p>
<p class="poem">
Montreal, 1914.</p>
<p><br/><br/><br/></p>
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