WAR with Chile? Just as soon At the radiant hour of noon Should the sun vie with the moon! Should the moon in heaven's azure With the stars her brightness measure! Bombard Valparaiso? Lo, How the startled craters glow! How the peaks with horror heave! Sea-winds up the gorges grieve, And the condor to the sky Screams this Old-World cruelty! What! The Great Republic deign Thus the glory to maintain Of her high, effulgent reign? Thus, this year of jubilee, Dim her flag on shore and sea? She, the light of all the Band Vowed to Freedom, let her hand Strike her young, impetuous neighbor Madly down with war's dread sabre, While the nations hardly smother Scorn of how we love each other? No! The Godlike way be hers! — Generous, patient, till she stirs Even her foes to worshippers Seeing clear the soul of good In our storied Sisterhood. To the winds be vengeance cast! Let the war-cry be the last! — Guns be manned nor sails be spread Till the day of peace has fled. Glory, right alone confers — Let the Godlike way be hers! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...HER EYES TWIN POOLS by JAMES WELDON JOHNSON OLD TRAILS by EDWIN ARLINGTON ROBINSON ODE TO BEAUTY by RALPH WALDO EMERSON SONNET: 57 by WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE MY BEAUTIFUL LADY by THOMAS WOOLNER THE SUN IS DOWN by JOANNA BAILLIE FAREWELL TO THE PILGRIMS by THEODORE M. BAKKE |