Page:Main Street and other poems, Kilmer, 1917.djvu/84

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MAIN STREET AND OTHER POEMS


THE WHITE SHIPS AND THE RED (continued)

Not all the seven oceans
Shall wash away that stain;
Upon a brow that wears a crown
I am the brand of Cain."


When God's great voice assembles
The fleet on Judgment Day,
The ghosts of ruined ships will rise
In sea and strait and bay.
Though they have lain for ages
Beneath the changeless flood,
They shall be white as silver,
But one—shall be like blood.


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