Chapter XXXIII: Lessons of the Cataclysm and Precautionary Measures . . . . . . . . 308

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The Unleashed Gods

By Percy Shaw

Iron and rock are our slaves;
We are liege to marble and steel;
We go our ways through our purse-proud days,
Lifting our voices in loud self-praise--
Forgetting the God at the wheel.

We build our bulwarks of stone,
Skyscraper and culvert and tower,
Till the God of Flood, keen-nosed for blood,
Drags our monuments into the mud
In the space of a red-eyed hour.

Kings of the oceans are we,
With our liners of rocket speed,
Till the God of Ice, in mist-filled trice,
Calls to us harshly to pay his price
As we sink to the deep-sea weed.

Muscle and brain are our slaves;
We are liege to iron and steel;
But who shall say, tomorrow, today,
That we shall not halt on our onward way
To bow to the God at the wheel?

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