The stranger spoke with hushed command

His words struck their minds like barbed whips

Summoning hate that none could withstand,

Not with all their soldiers and all their ships

Nor the golden gates that shut them out,

Could they halt the violent tide

Rising at the signal of a distant shout

Never to relent, never to subside.

Red rivers filled the gutters before long

And sullied idols were melted down,

And the peoples met in jubilant song

Adorning the stranger with his crown.

In passing I heard others as they talked

They spoke with the stranger in his hall

Asking why he had helped us all

And he told them of a road that forked.

Each road led to a different end

Each end weighed heavy on his head

And so he chose the world he could mend

For he was just one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread.