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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE SWORD DEMANDS, by EDWIN BARLOW EVANS
First Line: The strident shout and surge of marching hosts
Last Line: Will force its frightful holocaust of dead.
Subject(s): Swords; War
First Line: The strident shout and surge of marching hosts
Last Line: Will force its frightful holocaust of dead.
Subject(s): Swords; War
The strident shout and surge of marching hosts,
Resounds from Alpine peaks to circling coasts.
Before his bannered ranks and microphone
The despot bawls his madness, ego-blown.
He glorifies brute force and plows mass mind
To sow the vicious seed of hate refined.
His flair for glory-power, his mad desires
Ignore the Nemesis of whirlwind fires.
He poisons pregnant thought of ardent youth
With propaganda, tragic death to truth.
With man a cipher, mystic State supreme,
Freedom's a crucified and futile dream.
Woman is bred to breed dumb cannon food,
To this low end the loving maid is wooed.
The sword that sweeps above the nation's head
Will force its frightful holocaust of dead.
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