The Ultimate Victory

As men that labor in a mountain war-- Scaling sheer cliffs, hewing out stairs of stone, Trenching the ice, quenching the torrent’s roar With rolling thunders in the gorges lone-- Having seized a height, might stand with dazzled stare, Seeing, beyond, a highest heavenly peak Hung lucent as a cloud in the bright air, Still to be won: O thus, even thus, we seek Peace beyond War! and thus the Vision gleams Upon us battling, that snow-crest sublime, That holy mountain, that pure crown of dreams, Toward which Man’s soul has struggled up through Time. In blood and sweat we war that War may cease; And storming the last peak, we conquer Peace.