Contents -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

Harriet Monroe, ed. (1860–1936). The New Poetry: An Anthology. 1917.

The Temple of Hunger

Skipwith Cannéll

THERE’S a temple, dark and silent,

Littered with dust and bone,

Where the countless hoards of the starving

Bow at the Lean God’s throne.

In the chilling gloom by the altar,

Whence even hatred has fled,

Sits the God of Hunger gloating

Over tribute of starven dead.

Before him, and beaten and bitter,

From eastern and western lands,

Cringe the people the God of Hunger

Will crumple between his hands.

Silent they crouch and hopeless;

Each with a look that sees,

Each one but a stricken shadow,

Its forehead between its knees.