The Road to the Spring: Collected Poems of Mary Austin

The Feet of the Young Men

275 The Feet of the Young Men Acts V., 9. Where the nations sat in council, scarlet robe and purple hem, From the four-went ways of travel came the poor of God to them; Came the blind of right and reason, came the halt of rule and law, Came the feeble, feckless peoples, crying dole of all they saw. “Lo, to you God giveth bread, Break a crust to us,” they said, “We have eaten fruit of bondage to the core;” “Take, and eat,” the nations cried, Here is freedom;” but they lied, And the young men’s feet were at the door. “All we know of truth to Godward, all we can of love beside, All our good sword arm hath won us,” quoth the nations; but they lied, Bid them wait upon the scarlet, puppet to the purple hem— As they dealt with hungry peoples, so the Lord hath dealt with them. They have felt the threshing flail, They have passed beyond the pale, To the limbo of lost empires gone before, They are stricken in their pride, They are dead, because they lied— And the young men’s feet are at the door. Though your word shall run with power, and your arm reach overseas, Yet the questing bolt shall find you if you keep not faith with these, Lest you be at one with Egypt, lest you lie as Rome lies now In the potter’s field of empires, mint and cumin, keep the vow. 276 * Keep the truth your fathers made Lest your children grow afraid, Lest you hear the captives’ mothers weeping sore— There is little worth beside— They are dead because they lied, And the young men’s feet are at the door. Editor’s Notes Land of Sunshine, February 1900, 139. ...