 | Romance and revery |  |
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WAR.
How long until the old sombre curse relent
That shadows with its lurid pest our world,—
That often amid dismay and pain has hurled
The fairest isle, the mightiest continent?
How soon shall all this power and reign of wrong
Back to a prisoning past be sternly sent,
Where ancient evils lie like serpents curled,
Writhing with memories that they once were strong!
That shadows with its lurid pest our world,—
That often amid dismay and pain has hurled
The fairest isle, the mightiest continent?
How soon shall all this power and reign of wrong
Back to a prisoning past be sternly sent,
Where ancient evils lie like serpents curled,
Writhing with memories that they once were strong!
Through ages glory about thy feet hath clung,
War, terribler than all known shapes but they
That deep in noisome charnels crumble away;
Yet proudly o'er thine hideous frame are flung
To-day the purple and gold of kingly dress,
And round thee throng allegiant old and young,
With banner and plume and pomp their love to pay,
And kiss thy slaughterous hand's red ghastliness!
War, terribler than all known shapes but they
That deep in noisome charnels crumble away;
Yet proudly o'er thine hideous frame are flung
To-day the purple and gold of kingly dress,
And round thee throng allegiant old and young,
With banner and plume and pomp their love to pay,
And kiss thy slaughterous hand's red ghastliness!
69
Thy smoking altars are the riot of strife;
The great are of thy vassalage; alone
Is he best loved that shall approach thy throne
Dripping most vilely with his brother's life;
To restless monarchs' ears thy flatteries dread
Thou bringest, pointing with ensanguined knife
Toward fame,—a spire of insubstantial stone,
That looms o'er glimmering meadows dark with dead!
The great are of thy vassalage; alone
Is he best loved that shall approach thy throne
Dripping most vilely with his brother's life;
To restless monarchs' ears thy flatteries dread
Thou bringest, pointing with ensanguined knife
Toward fame,—a spire of insubstantial stone,
That looms o'er glimmering meadows dark with dead!
The fumes of flaming city or village rise
With welcome to thy nostrils, and the reek
Of gore is delicate as no words may speak;
Thine ears drink greedily those tragic cries
Of suppliant women seized in maddened flight;
Vain prayers of the old for mercy dost thou prize,
Or agony of the mother's thrilling shriek
When her sweet babe is murdered in her sight!
With welcome to thy nostrils, and the reek
Of gore is delicate as no words may speak;
Thine ears drink greedily those tragic cries
Of suppliant women seized in maddened flight;
Vain prayers of the old for mercy dost thou prize,
Or agony of the mother's thrilling shriek
When her sweet babe is murdered in her sight!
And thou hast dared with ocean's loudest boom
To match thy savage clamor, and to appall
Its violence, when thy cannon's deadly ball
Rakes o'er blood-slippery decks a path of doom;
Or when the lit wreck flares in hot distress;
Or when the dim vast vessel, in midnight gloom,
Suddenly at the sly torpedo's call
Thunders and blazes into nothingness!
To match thy savage clamor, and to appall
Its violence, when thy cannon's deadly ball
Rakes o'er blood-slippery decks a path of doom;
Or when the lit wreck flares in hot distress;
Or when the dim vast vessel, in midnight gloom,
Suddenly at the sly torpedo's call
Thunders and blazes into nothingness!
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Or yet with exultation dost thou go,
When truce its lull to battle and rapine brings,
Where the sad hospital forlornly rings
With cries and moans of suffering, keen or low,
And all the vacuous rant delirium saith;
Or where at the ended fight's dumb overthrow
Of man and steed, fly forth on massive wings
The dolorous-throated poursuivants of death! ...
When truce its lull to battle and rapine brings,
Where the sad hospital forlornly rings
With cries and moans of suffering, keen or low,
And all the vacuous rant delirium saith;
Or where at the ended fight's dumb overthrow
Of man and steed, fly forth on massive wings
The dolorous-throated poursuivants of death! ...
Wisdom, thou lamp of nations, light supreme,
With chaster brilliance glitter than of yore!
Win men to seek thy beauty and to adore
Knowledge, whose rich oil feeds thy virgin beam,
Till life to loftier longings be attuned,
And from humanity, in both deed and dream,
This folly of hate be exiled evermore,
Now haunting it as foul flies haunt a wound!
With chaster brilliance glitter than of yore!
Win men to seek thy beauty and to adore
Knowledge, whose rich oil feeds thy virgin beam,
Till life to loftier longings be attuned,
And from humanity, in both deed and dream,
This folly of hate be exiled evermore,
Now haunting it as foul flies haunt a wound!
O quench eternally these baleful fires!
Wipe clean and sheathe henceforth from future ills
This truculent sword that arrogantly spills
Fresh blood to hiss amid insatiate pyres!
For lo! all thought where high ambitions dwell,
All pure ideals of freedom, all desires
Whose rush of godlier warmth man's bosom fills,
Revolt from this black janizary of hell!
Wipe clean and sheathe henceforth from future ills
This truculent sword that arrogantly spills
Fresh blood to hiss amid insatiate pyres!
For lo! all thought where high ambitions dwell,
All pure ideals of freedom, all desires
Whose rush of godlier warmth man's bosom fills,
Revolt from this black janizary of hell!
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