Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE ANCIENT SACRIFICE, by MAHLON LEONARD FISHER


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE ANCIENT SACRIFICE, by                    
First Line: Ye dead and gone great armies of the world
Last Line: About the blood-stained shrine of bygone wars!
Subject(s): Death; History; Legacies; Military; Sacrifices; War; Dead, The; Historians


Ye dead and gone great armies of the world,
Sweet gleam the fields where ye were used to pass,
With Death for leader, legioned like the grass,
Day after day by dews of morning pearled.

Ye dead and gone great armies, ye were hurled
'Gainst other armies, great and dead and gone,
In awful dark: ye died before the dawn,
Ne'er knowing how your flags in peace are furled!

Ye are the tall fair forests that were felled
To build a pyre for strife that it might cease;
Ye are the white lambs slaughtered to bring peace;

Ye are the sweet ships sunk that storm be quelled;
And ye are lilies plucked and set like stars
About the blood-stained shrine of bygone wars!





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