Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, TO PEACE, by W. W. M.


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

TO PEACE, by                    
First Line: We are the dead
Last Line: Make green thy fields for us, and bring us tears and laughter?
Subject(s): Death; Military; Peace; Social Protest; War; Women; Dead, The


We are the Dead.
Give ear, O Peace!
A thousand thousand empty hearths
And wives un-husbanded
And children fatherless, cry out to thee:
Be it not said
Thou hast forgotten why these tears are shed:
Have we not borne a share
Of the intolerable burden and despair?

II
We are the maimed:
Take heed, O Peace!
We laid upon thine altar stone
A gift that burned and flamed
To Heaven's high door: but darkness and despair
Hedge us about.
And pain has come, and weariness, and doubt:
Come thou to our release—
Surely thou bringest healing in thy wings,
O Peace!

III
The women, we,
Hearken, O Peace!
What treasure, with far-looking eyes,
Did we not yield for thee:
Did we not trust thee wholly? and ourselves
We put away
Through every counted hour of every day:
Share thou our bosoms' pain.
Share thou our sacrifice; be partner in our gain.

IV
And we, unborn,
O Peace, O Peace!
Immortal silence fences round
Beyond all bond or bound.
The little hands, outstretched, that never clasp;
The little feet
That run but may not reach to love and greet:
Canst thou, O Peace, hereafter
Make green thy fields for us, and bring us tears and laughter?





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