Who shall sit at the table, then, when the terms of peace are made -- The wisest men of the troubled lands in their silver and gold brocade? Yes, they shall gather in solemn state to speak for each living race, But who shall speak for the unseen dead that shall come to the council place? Though you see them not and you hear them not, they shall sit at the table, too; They shall throng the room where the peace is made and know what it is you do; The innocent dead from the sea shall rise to stand at the wise man's side, And over his shoulder a boy shall look -- a boy that was crucified. You may guard the doors of that council hall with barriers strong and stout, But the dead unbidden shall enter there, and never you'll shut them out. And the man that died in the open boat, and the babes that suffered worse, Shall sit at the table when peace is made by the side of a martyred nurse. You may see them not, but they'll all be there; when they speak you may fail to hear; You may think that you're making your pacts alone, but their spirits will hover near; And whatever the terms of the peace you make with the tyrant whose hands are red, You must please not only the living here, but must satisfy your dead. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE PLOUGHER [OR PLOWER] by PADRAIC COLUM THE LITTLE BEACH BIRD by RICHARD HENRY DANA (1787-1879) ON A LUTE FOUND IN A SARCOPHAGUS by EDMUND WILLIAM GOSSE A THUNDERSTORM IN TOWN by THOMAS HARDY HIGH FLIGHT by JOHN GILLESPIE MAGEE JR. DEATH THE LEVELLER, FR. THE CONTENTION OF AJAX AND ULYSSES by JAMES SHIRLEY CROSSING BROOKLYN FERRY by WALT WHITMAN |