The Unknown God

The President to Kingdoms,     As in the Days of Old;     The King to the Republic,     As it had been foretold.     They could not read the spelling,     They would not hear the call;     They would not brook the telling     Of Writing on the Wall.     I buy my Peace with Slaughter,     With Peace I fashion War;     I drown the land with water,     With land I build the shore.     I walk with Son and Daughter     Where Ocean rolled before.     I build a town where sea was     A tower where tempests roar.     From bays in distant islands,     And rocks in lonely seas,     With unseen Death in silence     I smite mine enemies!     The great Cathedral crashes     Where once a city stood;     I build again on ashes     And breed on clotted blood!     I link the seas together,     And at my sign and will     The train runs on the ocean bed,     The great ship climbs the hill!     For pastime I flood deserts     With water from the rill;     And in my tireless leisure hours     I empty lakes, and fill.     I plumb the seas beneath us     And fathom skies above,     Yet I make Peace for hatred     And I make War for love.     I race beneath the ranges     And sit where Mystery dwells     Yet mankind sees no changes,     They ask for miracles!     I own the world and span its     Lone lands from Pole to Pole;     I live in other planets,     Yet do not know my soul     The soul that none may fathom,     Whose secrets none may tell,     The soul that none may humble,     The Soul Unconquerable!     I am the God of Ages!     I am the Unknown God!     My life is written pages     Wherever man hath trod.     From bounds of Polar regions,     To where the Desert reigns,     Ive left my myriad legions     On countless vanished plains.     And I shall reign for ever     On earth while oceans roll,     In shape of man, or woman,     Through my immortal soul;     Yet I can love and suffer,     Be angry, or be mild,     And I can bow me down and weep     Just like a mortal child.     I conquer Death and Living,     And Fiends in shape of men,     For I rejoice in giving     Not to receive again.     For I am Man! and Mortal!     And Mammons Towers must fall,     Though Greed draws all his pencils through     The Writing on the Wall!