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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


IN A TIME OF WAR: 1. COUNTER OR CAMP. AUGUST 1914 by THOMAS STURGE MOORE

First Line: COUNTER OR CAMP, WHICH OF THE TWO RULES WORST?
Last Line: AND STILL EXPLORES THE UNIVERSE WITH AWE.
Subject(s): WORLD WAR I; FIRST WORLD WAR;

COUNTER or camp, which of the two rules worst?
Both alike waste, spread forth their pomp, and lie.
The counter, blind with greed and styled finance,
Exploits, insults and treads down those who toil
As though the head should dare despise the hand
Whose deftness taught it nicety and grasp!
The camp out-tigers dumb brutes in its rage,
And boastfully mistakes mere might for right;
Invokes and desecrates the love of home
As the other lauds and mocks that sweet name Peace.
Both, rebels, scorn the man who ought to lead,
The kind and docile, tentative, meek man
Who prized the beauty of his innocence,
And still explores the universe with awe.



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