 | Three Hundred Sonnets |  |
149
PEACE AND STRIFE.
‘Live peaceably with all, for aught in thee,If it be possible:’—but is it so,
When every faithful word ensures its foe,
And wrath and impulse, in their due degree,
Make the lip quiver and the forehead glow?
Peace is not always duty; peace forsooth
Were sinful compromise with evil men,
Whose arméd phalanx from the seeds of truth
Springs forth, a foeman from each dragon's tooth:
If thou essayest good by tongue or pen,
Or, worst of all, by force of blameless life,
One martyrdom is certain; thou shalt smart
A pierced Sebastian from the shafts of strife
Aim'd at a loving though a zealous heart.
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