The Christ Of The Andes

After volcanoes husht with snows,

Up where the wide-winged condor goes,

Great Aconcagua, husht and high,

Sends down the ancient peace of the sky.

So, poised in clean Andean air,

Where bleak with cliffs the grim peaks stare,

Christ, reaching out His sacred hands,

Sheds His brave peace upon the lands.

There once of old wild battles roared

And brother-blood was on the sword;

Now all the fields are rich with grain

And only roses redden the plain.

Torn were the peoples with feuds and hates-

Fear on the mountain-walls, death at the gates;

Then through the clamor of arms was heard

A whisper of the Master's word.

"Fling down your swords; be friends again:

Ye are not wolf-packs: ye are men.

Let brother-counsel be the Law:

Not serpent fang, nor tiger claw."

Chile and Argentina heard;

The great hopes in their spirits stirred;

The red swords from their clenched fists fell,

And heaven shone out where once was hell!

They hurled their cannons into flame

And out of the forge the strong Christ came.

'Twas thus they molded in happy fire

The tall Christ of their hearts desire...

O Christ of Olivet, You husht the wars

Under the far Andean stars:

Lift now Your strong nail-wounded hands

Over all peoples, over all lands-

Stretch out those comrade hands to be

A shelter over land and sea!

Christ The Redeemer Of The Andes 

This statue was erected in 1904, not long after the peace agreement

signed between Chile and Argentina in 1902.  An inscription on the

base of the statue reads: "Sooner shall these mountain crags crumble to

dust than Chile and Argentina shall break this peace which is at the feet

of Christ the Redeemer they have sworn to maintain."

"The Christ Of The Andes"

Edwin Markham

(1852-1940)