My friends, why should we live? Life is an idle war a toilsome peace; To-day I would not give One small consent for its securest ease. Shall we out-wear the year In our pavilions on its dusty plain And yet no signal hear To strike our tents and take the road again? Or else drag up the slope The heavy ordnance of nature's train? Useless but in the hope, Some far remote and heavenward hill to gain. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...ANTIQUITY OF FREEDOM by WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT THE LATTICE AT SUNRISE by CHARLES TENNYSON TURNER CHRISTMAS AFTER WAR by KATHARINE LEE BATES REMEMBRANCE by WILLIAM LISLE BOWLES POOR CHILD by ROBERT SEYMOUR BRIDGES |