Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, PEACE MUST COME AS A TROUBADOUR, by MARIE DRENNAN


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

PEACE MUST COME AS A TROUBADOUR, by                    
First Line: They have pictured peace at the wheel and loom
Last Line: For a cause that wings to the very skies.
Subject(s): Peace


They have pictured Peace at the wheel and loom
While swallows chirp in the nested eaves;
They have shown you fields with their tawny sheaves
And meadow vales where the daisies bloom.
But War rides out to the trumpet shout,
In scarlet and gold and silver and blue.
His strong old song throbs hard in you,
And you swing to your saddle with never a doubt.

They have pictured Peace in mauve and gray,
The pale old man in cowl and gown,
Walled in from the quiet old-world town,
Chanting the twilight hours away.
But down in the pushing, lusting crowd,
Down in the weary, sweating throng,
The faint, slow notes of Evensong
Are lost, for the horns of War are loud.

So Peace must come as a troubadour,
Singing to thatch and turret and spire,
Of smoking feast and of ruddy fire,
Of sleeping babes for the rich and poor.
But the song of Peace must soar and rise
To high adventure and pain and death,
For Youth will wager his dying breath
For a cause that wings to the very skies.





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