Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, HOW LONG?, by FERNER R. NUHN


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

HOW LONG?, by                    
First Line: How long this vain, blind lust of power
Last Line: Replace their country's battle song?
Subject(s): Hate; Patriotism; Social Protest; War


How long this vain, blind lust of power
Rough-hid in specious suavity
Like Freudian complex, waxing sour,
Running amuck in evil hour
When peaceful peasants from each bower
Are drenched in propaganda shower
And dragged to die "vicariously"?

How long will history call men great
Whose highest claim to such renown
Was that they taught men how to hate
And kill their fellows—for the state?
Napoleon,—or Pasteur, crown?
Bismarck or Goethe, which goes down
As one whom all should emulate?

How long this "country right or wrong";
This mouth-allegiance to a flag;
This madly patriotic throng
Who cry out "Treason!" when men long
To see a world with lines of hate
Erased, and hymns of common love
Replace their country's battle song?





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