Harriet Monroe, ed. (1860–1936). The New Poetry: An Anthology. 1917.
What Tomas An Buile said in a Pub
By James Stephens
I
Do you dare to doubt it?
I saw the Almighty Man. His hand
Was resting on a mountain, and
He looked upon the World and all about it:
I saw Him plainer than you see me now,
You mustn’t doubt it.
His look was all dissatisfied.
His beard swung on a wind far out of sight
Behind the world’s curve, and there was light
Most fearful from His forehead, and He sighed,
“That star went always wrong, and from the start
I was dissatisfied.”
I say He heaved a dreadful hand
Over the spinning Earth, then I said: “Stay—
You must not strike it, God; I’m in the way;
And I will never move from where I stand.”
He said, “Dear child, I feared that you were dead,”
And stayed His hand.