Olga
Thou hast seen the poor man, blindly, desperately,
Feeling for God, a God of peace and love,
And seen the rich and mighty grudge him this,
His one possession, his one dream of hope,
And smother in dark sayings his new faith;
Enthrone another God in vulgar pomp,
And bribe Him with base homage . . . .
To fix His seal on deeds of blood and crime,
To set His foot on knowledge and denounce
With curses that faint dawning of the light.
Thou hast learnt much, but knowledge for the sake
Of knowing merely is a luxury
Too delicately selfish for the soul
To thrive by. Thou has felt much too, hast burned
In thy grave silence over this world's wrongs.
But the heart wastes, not lives, in such slow fire
As thine keeps pent within it. What my words
Mean on this day, on other days have meant,
I think you have in part divined.
Olga.In part—
I wait for more.
Dim.Then listen to me now.
The time is come for us who know, to teach
The weak who feel, to teach them how the weak
Find strength in secret union, and must pass
Laws holier than the tyrant's and the priest's,
The busy money-getter's and the rich
Feeling for God, a God of peace and love,
And seen the rich and mighty grudge him this,
His one possession, his one dream of hope,
And smother in dark sayings his new faith;
Enthrone another God in vulgar pomp,
And bribe Him with base homage . . . .
To fix His seal on deeds of blood and crime,
To set His foot on knowledge and denounce
With curses that faint dawning of the light.
Thou hast learnt much, but knowledge for the sake
Of knowing merely is a luxury
Too delicately selfish for the soul
To thrive by. Thou has felt much too, hast burned
In thy grave silence over this world's wrongs.
But the heart wastes, not lives, in such slow fire
As thine keeps pent within it. What my words
Mean on this day, on other days have meant,
I think you have in part divined.
Olga.In part—
I wait for more.
Dim.Then listen to me now.
The time is come for us who know, to teach
The weak who feel, to teach them how the weak
Find strength in secret union, and must pass
Laws holier than the tyrant's and the priest's,
The busy money-getter's and the rich
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