 | The Poems of Sir William Watson |  |
TRANQUIL LIBERTY
First published October 23, 1914. I let it stand but commit myself to no opinion as to its wisdom or folly.
Pax est tranquilla libertas.—Cicero
Nor are repasts beneath the hair-swung sword,
That awed in Syracuse the tyrant's board,
Such banquets as the peoples hunger for.
Not to Europa's bull need toreador
Wave scarlet provocation; and Accord
Blooms ill from arsenals for ever stored
With mouths of death for ever in act to roar.
An areopagus of nations let
Men found hereafter, puissant to restrain
Flaunted armipotence, whether on earth or sea
Or the outraged air, and suchlike peace beget
As Tully envisioned; peace itself being vain,
That is not also tranquil liberty.
1914
| The Poems of Sir William Watson | |