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Victoria University College Students' Association. Annual Capping Carnival 'Struth. Grand Opera House, Wellington, 10th, 11th, 12th May, 1922

Epilogue

page 18

Epilogue.

"A Thought there was."
A thought there was, and it travelled wide,
And deep in the minds of men took root—
"Might is right. Let the sword decide:
Death to the conquered; to the victors, loot.
'Tis strife is the end of life; its goal.
Through suffering only comes final good:
Up and smite, though Death take his toll:
Let sweep o'er the earth, the Martian flood."

And reason clean from the land was banished,
And fear and madness had their day.
Justice, man's age old heritage, vanished
And all Earth shuddered beneath the fray.
Now reason's come to her own again:
Life stirs once more, shakes off the pall
Of night, the moral—Times' old refrain—
"Who grasps the sword, by the sword shall fall."

The mists that stifled, the clouds that shrouded
Have fled apace to the realms of night,
Clear shine the stars in a sky unclouded,
Bright lies the world in the morning light.