Ella Wheeler Wilcox

War

I

   There is no picturesqueness and no glory,
      No halo of romance, in war to-day.
      It is a hideous thing; Time would turn grey
   With horror, were he not already hoary
   At sight of this vile monster, foul and gory.
      Yet while sweet women perish as they pray,
      And new-born babes are slaughtered, who dare say
   ‘Halt!’ till Right pens its ‘Finis’ to the story!
   There is no pathway, but the path through blood,
      Out of the horrors of this holocaust.
   Hell has let loose its scalding crimson flood,
      And he who stops to argue now is lost.
   Not brooms of creeds, not Pacifistic words
   Can stem the tide, but swords—uplifted swords!

II

   Yet, after Peace has turned the clean white page
      There shall be sorrow on the earth for years;
      Abysmal grief, that has no eyes for tears,
   And youth that hobbles through the earth like age.
   But better to play this part upon life’s stage
      Than to aid structures that a tyrant rears,
      To live a stalwart hireling torn with fears,
   And shamed by feeding on a conqueror’s wage.
   Death, yea, a thousand deaths, were sweet in truth
      Rather than such ignoble life.  God gave
   Being, and breath, and high resolve to youth
      That it might be Wrong’s master, not its slave.
   Our road to Freedom is the road to guns!
   Go, arm your sons!  I say, Go, arm your sons!

III

   Arm! arm! that mandate on each wind is whirled.
      Let no man hesitate or look askance,
      For from the devastated homes of France
   And ruined Belgium the cry is hurled.
   Why, Christ Himself would keep peace banners furled
      Were He among us, till, with lifted lance,
      He saw the hosts of Righteousness advance
   To purify the Temples of the world.
   There is no safety on the earth to-day
      For any sacred thing, or clean, or fair;
   Nor can there be, until men rise and slay
      The hydra-headed monster in his lair.
   War! horrid War! now Virtue’s only friend;
   Clasp hands with War, and battle to the end!