Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, WAR, by REX WILLS


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

WAR, by                    
First Line: Out in the bleak, cold forests of the north
Last Line: Of god and man, of righteousness and reason.
Subject(s): Soldiers; War Injuries; World War I; First World War


OUT in the bleak, cold forests of the North,
A cry went up,—a cold, blood-chilling cry.
A hush, as silent as the silent trees, ensued;
And then, faintly from far away there came
An answering cry; and then another, till
The whole great forest sang the deathsong
Of a lone, lost man. He perished,
But the flesh upon his bones was not enough
To satiate the fiendish hunger of his foes.
And so, with the taste of blood gone wild,
The stronger of the pack attacked the weaker,
Nor stopped until their bellies bulged
With food torn from the backs of brothers.
Hounds of Hell, or Satan's Dogs, they call them there,
Wickedest of all the wicked brutes upon the earth.

Out in the cultured polish of the civil world,
A cry went up,—a shrill, heartrending cry.
A startled world looked on amazed, and then
The clouds of war took shape upon the horizon,
Black grew the world with hate, and then
The war storm broke. Hell reigned supreme.
Shamed were the snarling wolves, when man, in frenzy
Tore at the throat of man; when streams
Flowed blood; when human bones unheeded
Bleached beneath the blistering sun.
Hounds of Hell were a name well fit for wolves,
But never yet has language been devised
Containing venom ample to describe such animals
As these called men, who senselessly abuse the laws
Of God and Man, of righteousness and reason.





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