Lyric Poem · Peace

When a people reach the top of a hill

by Stephen Crane

Reading room

1When a people reach the top of a hill,

2Then does God lean toward them,

3Shortens tongues and lengthens arms.

4A vision of their dead comes to the weak.

5The moon shall not be too old

6Before the new battalions rise,

7Blue battalions.

8The moon shall not be too old

9When the children of change shall fall

10Before the new battalions,

11The blue battalions.

12Mistakes and virtues will be trampled deep.

13A church and a thief shall fall together.

14A sword will come at the bidding of the eyeless,

15The God-led, turning only to beckon,

16Swinging a creed like a censer

17At the head of the new battalions,

18Blue battalions.

19March the tools of nature's impulse,

20Men born of wrong, men born of right,

21Men of the new battalions,

22The blue battalions.

23The clang of swords is Thy wisdom,

24The wounded make gestures like Thy Son's;

25The feet of mad horses is one part —

26Ay, another is the hand of a mother on the brow of a youth.

27Then, swift as they charge through a shadow,

28The men of the new battalions,

29Blue battalions —

30God lead them high, God lead them far,

31God lead them far, God lead them high,

32These new battalions,

33The blue battalions.

34THE END

Full-text availability follows the United States display decision recorded below; status can differ elsewhere.

Tip: click any line number to copy a ready-made citation for that line.

“When a people reach the top of a hill” by Stephen Crane — quilloak.com/poems/when-a-people-reach-the-top-of-a-hill

Quick facts

Poem: When a people reach the top of a hill
Poet: Stephen Crane
Length: 34 lines
Form: Lyric Poem
Themes: Peace, Nature, Childhood

Craft notes

How this poem works

Measured from the text on this page, not copied from a summary. Counts are approximate: syllables and rhymes come from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, which models General American English, so dialect, older pronunciation, and performance can all change what you hear.

Shape: 34 lines · 4 stanzas of 1–11 lines
Refrains: “The moon shall not be too old”“Blue battalions.”“The blue battalions.”Repeated lines act as the poem's hinge or drumbeat.

The poem’s silhouette — approximate syllables per line, measured from the text above. Even bars mean a measured line; ragged bars mean the poem sets its own widths.

Want the rules this form is measured against? Read what makes a lyric poem, or run your own draft through the form checker to see the same measurements on your lines. How we measure · Report a mistake

Text, source & rights

A traceable edition

Full-text display is based on the committed source record and a United States term-expiry review.

Author record: Stephen Crane1871–1900
Source record: PoetryDBWhen a people reach the top of a hill by stephen-crane, PoetryDB transcription
Display decision: Full text · United States · reviewed 2026-07-18
Publication record: Not recorded in the imported source
Text fingerprint: SHA-256 db30385afa2d4d24…
Editorial handling: Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.

Jurisdiction-specific, never a worldwide claimRights policy Report a text or rights issue

Lyric Poem Peace Nature Childhood

Keep reading

She Walks in Beauty

Lord Byron · 1814

She walks in beauty, like the nightOf cloudless climes and starry skies;And all that's best of dark and bright

18 lines · lyric

Love's Philosophy

Percy Bysshe Shelley · 1819

The fountains mingle with the riverAnd the rivers with the ocean,The winds of heaven mix for ever

16 lines · lyric

When You Are Old

W. B. Yeats · 1893

When you are old and grey and full of sleep,And nodding by the fire, take down this book,And slowly read, and dream of the soft look

12 lines · lyric

More poems about peace →