English poem
The Defilers
by David Park Barnitz (1878–1901)
O endless idiocy of humankind! O blatant dead that howl and scream and roar! O strange dead things the worms have gambled for! O dull and senseless, foolish, mad and blind!
How long now shall your scent defile the wind? How long shall you make vile the earth’s wide floor? How long, how long, O waiting ages hoar, Shall the white dawn their gaping faces find?
O vile and simple, blind of heart and mind, When shall your last wave roll forevermore Back from the sick and long-defiled shore?
When shall the grave the last dead carcass bind? O shameless humankind! O dead! O dead! When shall your rottenness be buried?