Poem by Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Communism

When my blood flows calm as a purling river, 
When my heart is asleep and my brain has sway, 
It is then that I vow we must part for ever, 
That I will forget you, and put you away
Out of my life, as a dream is banished
Out of the mind when the dreamer awakes; 
That I know it will be when the spell has vanished, 
Better for both of our sakes.

When the court of the mind is ruled by Reason, 
I know it wiser for us to part; 
But Love is a spy who is plotting treason, 
In league with that warm, red rebel, the Heart.
They whisper to me that the King is cruel, 
That his reign is wicked, his law a sin, 
And every word they utter is fuel
To the flame that smoulders within.

And on nights like this, when my blood runs riot
With the fever of youth and its mad desires, 
When my brain in vain bids my heart be quiet, 
When my breast seems the centre of lava-fires, 
Oh, then is when most I miss you, 
And I swear by the stars and my soul and say
That I will have you, and hold you, and kiss you, 
Though the whole world stands in the way.

And like Communists, as mad, as disloyal, 
My fierce emotions roam out of their lair; 
They hate King Reason for being royal –
They would fire his castle, and burn him there.
O Love! They would clasp you, and crush you and kill you, 
In the insurrection of uncontrol.
Across the miles, does this wild war thrill you
That is raging in my soul?

1. The Birth of the Orchid
2. The Call (All wantonly in hours of joy)
3. Be Not Attached
4. Behold the Earth
5. The Black Charger

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