The Defilers

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?