Poem by Vachel Lindsay

To Buddha

Awake again in Asia, Lord of Peace,
Awake and preach, for her far swordsmen rise.
And would they sheathe the sword before you, friend,
Or scorn your way, while looking in your eyes?

Good comrade and philosopher and prince,
Thoughtful and thoroughbred and strong and kind,
Dare they to move against your pride benign, 
Lord of the Law, high chieftain of the mind? 

But what can Europe say, when in your name
The throats are cut, the lotus-ponds turn red?
And what can Europe say, when with a laugh 
Old Asia heaps her hecatombs of dead?

1. Sweet Briars of the Stairways
2. The Haughty Snail-King
3. Upon Returning to the Country Road
4. The Master of the Dance
5. The Leaden-Eyed

Print

1186 Views

Last Poems

To Russian version