Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE PATH OF SAFETY, by ANONYMOUS


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE PATH OF SAFETY, by                    
First Line: Two jolly german barons lived in castles by the rhine
Last Line: "the noble lord von donnerblitz, the graf von schlagenstein"
Subject(s): Arms & Armor;brotherhood;germany;peace;war; Germans


The way to make war impossible is to be so strong as to make victory
certain.—Mr. Winston Churchill

Two jolly German Barons lived in castles by the Rhine—
The noble Lord von Donnerblitz, the Graf von Schlagenstein:
Though truculent and haughty, they had been at peace for years,
For each was rather chary of the other's fifty spears:

Till the steward of von Donnerblitz observed to him one day,
"Through worry over Schlagenstein your hair is turning grey;
With this absurd equality of force one never knows
But what some little incident may see us changing blows.

"A learned man once told me, and I feel that he was right,
'To the teeth you must be armed if you are anxious not to fight;
If you feel no taste for quarrels where the parties stab and hack
You must be so strong that nobody can possibly attack.'

"If another fifty lances you permit me to engage
You will never need to worry over neighbors in a rage,
In the peace of perfect safety we may cultivate the vine,
And you need not care a pfennig for the Graf von Schlagenstein."

"Well said," exclaimed his master, "What a head the man has got!
Go forth, my faithful henchman, and enlist them on the spot."
But this little conversation, by a traitor overheard,
Next morning to his rival was repeated, every word.

"Potztausend!" quoth the latter, "What the rascal says is true,
If you'd keep at peace with one, you must be strong enough for two;
So to put an end to panics, to suspicions, doubts and fears,
We'll increase at once our forces by a hundred lusty spears."

On this, of course, his neighbor found a similar increase
Had imposed itself upon him—in the interests of peace:
So he hired some English archers at a most enormous salary
And re-fortified his castle with a machicoulis gallery.

To-day each pays the wages of a thousand men-at-arms,
Yet neither knows a respite from suspicions and alarms;
And still two bankrupt barons are recruiting by the Rhine—
The noble Lord von Donnerblitz, the Graf von Schlagenstein.





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