(07/03/1942) Spirit of Earth

Spirit of Earth
I am a Soldier—-
I kill!
I am the essence of hatred
And bred in the red alembic of war;
I hate with a feral pride
Both brilliant and terrible.
Once I was Peace
And in my heart there glowed the futile hope
That for all time the bestial law of night
Had sheathed its sanguine talons.
Now I know
That this was false, for in its stead there rose
The tyranny and arrogance of race,
To sweep the world with flaming war and leave
The rancid blood of rapine to immerse
And clot the soil of freedom.
Here my hopes
And thin illusions for a better world
Were crushed and torn between the titan claws
Of brutal force barbarian.

I saw
The planned hypocrisy succeed its goal
And cultured nations reel before the lash
Of monster war mechanical unleashed,
And in my soul
Was gendered from this cataclysmic reft
A hatred more insatiate
Than lust of fame or gain or ought but that I find
This beast of Tyranny, and then with care
Enfold him sure and slowly that he feel
And know with terror numbed tongue the dread
Dark bitter taste of death, as kraken limbed
I crush his life with bonds unloosed and shorn
From peoples never conquered.
Thus I work
And plan that day of justice when all men
May live the peace of progress, and their will
Of life and love be not denied.
For this—-I am a Soldier
For this—-I kill!

— Grady L. McMurtry
7/3/1942 e.v.

Note: Originally published in Thelema Lodge Calendar, August 1994.