Conquest of America by Vivekananda Swami

(published in The Indian Mirror 1897)

The Swami sailed to Western shore,

Not as Cortes did before,

To conquer with the fire and sword

A dark unillumin’d horde,

H is weapons were of other mould

His aim not earthly power or gold ;

Bravely he steered athwart the main,   .

With none to follow in his train ;

With not a single shell in hand,

To raise his loved mother-land,

In the eyes of people far away,

Of master-minds as bright as day,

He told them in langnage clear,

They need not shed a drop of tear

For fallen Ind, who still doth own

A precious stone, to them unknown.

The Hindu is by culture mild,

Forbearing, generous, and kind;

The Hindu does not take delight

In hawking, hunting or in fight;

For birds and beasts as well as men

He always has a tender vein :

Feels in fact a brotherly love

For insects, worms and all above.

Though strongly wedded to his own,

He does not in his heart disown

The merits of another’s creed

The piety of a pious deed,

Be it done by a Hindu true

An Arab wild or wand’ring Jew.

How quick did Swami gain his end,

And the ways of ‘mericans mend !

When Caesar went to conquer Gaul

He went and saw and conquer’d all.

 

– O.C.M