Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, BLACK AND TAN REPRAISALS, by THOMAS STURGE MOORE


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

BLACK AND TAN REPRAISALS, by             Poem Explanation         Poet's Biography
First Line: The honour of england now hides in the grave
Alternate Author Name(s): Moore, T. Sturge


Black and Tans break in, burn, shoot and kill
?While lawyers wrangle and priests rule ill,
And over the sea, beyond the wave,
?The fateful letters sealed go grave
Terror and anguish are love's spilth,
?And where love was, black pools of filth.


What avails it to make parade
?Of the vast rewards of your mighty trade,
Or the learning and beauty of your halls,
?To the sobs of women and children, the calls
Of the dispossessed and the violated,
?And the hoot of laughter with which it is rated?


Frost may defend or snow may screen,
?But the pain that is, is not a dream;
Frost may gleam on spire and buttress,
?But hate and fear blacken and hurt us.
Be the first, sweet Love, to confess
?Your love unfeigned in a world at peace.


With hoarse cry from the isle of swans
?Is it thus you come, terrible Ones,
Norse, Celt, and Saxon, with spear and sword,
?To battle for God and to save the Lord?
He whose hands hold fire and steel,
?Shall he in heaven forever dwell?


What of the limbs he wreathed in pain,
?Of the mothers he caused to mourn in vain,
Of the little ones he gave to the sword?
?Shall they be counted in his reward?
If you had come in the days when chivalry shone,
?And pure faith lit up the Christian throne,
When the arm of man was strong and bold,
?And the heart of man was pure and gold,
Then might the land be won by sword,
?And all be saved by the grace of the Lord.
But now the heart of man is weak,
?And the arm of man is small and meek,
And peace, not war, should be our goal,
?To heal the wounds that blacken the soul.
Then let us kneel in prayer and love,
?And lift our hearts to the God above.








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