The Lord looked down on the nether Earth
He had made so fair and green--
Fertile valleys and snow-capped hills
And the oceans that lie between.
And He saw the strife of the thousand sects--
And ever anew they came--
Torture and farce and infamy
Committed in His name.
Figure and form and fetich--
Councils of hate and greed--
Prophet on prophet warring,
Each to his separate need.
Symbol and sign and surplice
And ostentatious prayer,
And the hollow mock of the chanceled dark
Flung back through the raftered air.
* * * * *
And the Lord He gazèd wistfully
Through the track of a falling star;
And He turned His sight from the homes of men,
Where the ranting cabals are.