Three Taverns: A Book of Poems

<h3> <SPAN name="peace"></SPAN> Peace on Earth<br/> </h3> <p>He took a frayed hat from his head,<br/> And "Peace on Earth" was what he said.<br/> "A morsel out of what you're worth,<br/> And there we have it: Peace on Earth.<br/> Not much, although a little more<br/> Than what there was on earth before.<br/> I'm as you see, I'm Ichabod, &mdash;<br/> But never mind the ways I've trod;<br/> I'm sober now, so help me God."<br/></p> <p>I could not pass the fellow by.<br/> "Do you believe in God?" said I;<br/> "And is there to be Peace on Earth?"<br/></p> <p>"Tonight we celebrate the birth,"<br/> He said, "of One who died for men;<br/> The Son of God, we say. What then?<br/> Your God, or mine? I'd make you laugh<br/> Were I to tell you even half<br/> That I have learned of mine today<br/> Where yours would hardly seem to stay.<br/> Could He but follow in and out<br/> Some anthropoids I know about,<br/> The God to whom you may have prayed<br/> Might see a world He never made."<br/></p> <p>"Your words are flowing full," said I;<br/> "But yet they give me no reply;<br/> Your fountain might as well be dry."<br/></p> <p>"A wiser One than you, my friend,<br/> Would wait and hear me to the end;<br/> And for His eyes a light would shine<br/> Through this unpleasant shell of mine<br/> That in your fancy makes of me<br/> A Christmas curiosity.<br/> All right, I might be worse than that;<br/> And you might now be lying flat;<br/> I might have done it from behind,<br/> And taken what there was to find.<br/> Don't worry, for I'm not that kind.<br/> `Do I believe in God?' Is that<br/> The price tonight of a new hat?<br/> Has He commanded that His name<br/> Be written everywhere the same?<br/> Have all who live in every place<br/> Identified His hidden face?<br/> Who knows but He may like as well<br/> My story as one you may tell?<br/> And if He show me there be Peace<br/> On Earth, as there be fields and trees<br/> Outside a jail-yard, am I wrong<br/> If now I sing Him a new song?<br/> Your world is in yourself, my friend,<br/> For your endurance to the end;<br/> And all the Peace there is on Earth<br/> Is faith in what your world is worth,<br/> And saying, without any lies,<br/> Your world could not be otherwise."<br/></p> <p>"One might say that and then be shot,"<br/> I told him; and he said: "Why not?"<br/> I ceased, and gave him rather more<br/> Than he was counting of my store.<br/> "And since I have it, thanks to you,<br/> Don't ask me what I mean to do,"<br/> Said he. "Believe that even I<br/> Would rather tell the truth than lie &mdash;<br/> On Christmas Eve. No matter why."<br/></p> <p>His unshaved, educated face,<br/> His inextinguishable grace,<br/> And his hard smile, are with me still,<br/> Deplore the vision as I will;<br/> For whatsoever he be at,<br/> So droll a derelict as that<br/> Should have at least another hat.<br/></p> <p><br/><br/><br/></p> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />