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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


MAN'S INHUMANITY TO MAN by ALBERT LINDLEY BEANE

First Line: THE MOST APPALLING THING ON HISTORY'S PAGE
Last Line: AND STAGED TEN THOUSAND REDDENED CALVARYS!
Subject(s): MANKIND; HUMAN RACE;

The most appalling thing on history's page,
And earth's most damning curse since time began
Is this -- man's inhumanity to man...
He has not ceased in warfare to engage,
For savage instincts still his heart enrage...
The robber baron's autocratic plan
In dreary serfdom kept his peasant clan,
And still Finance's barons dole the wage.

But towering darkly other wrongs above,
Stands out the way that man has forced his creeds
Throughout the earth by flame's and sword's decrees --
Disciples of a man meek as a dove
Have in his name done bloody, fiendish deeds.
And staged ten thousand reddened Calvarys!



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