Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, WINE FOR THE KING, by CLINTON SCOLLARD


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

WINE FOR THE KING, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: What is the word of the wind? The word of the wind is war!
Last Line: Naught, for there must be wine—red, red wine for the king!
Subject(s): Courts & Courtiers; Government; Social Protest; War


What is the word of the wind? The word of the wind is War!—
All of the olden horror! Moloch and Mars and Thor,
These supreme and sole, with Peace but a trampled thing,
Rapine and lust and famine, and blood for the wine of the King!

Tears may gather and fall through all of the stricken lands;
The kine may brood in the stall, the harvest rot where it stands;
The cup may be brimmed with gall, with the sweat of suffering
For others—and yet, and yet, there must be wine for the King!

What of the awful cost? What of the price to pay?
What of the loved and lost upon many a sanguine day?
What of the bells that toll?—Hark, how the echoes ring!—
Naught, for there must be wine—red, red wine for the King!





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