You claimed my youth. Into your hands I gave them Clear-eyed and clean, high-hearted, valiant, strong, Before your awful altars humbly kneeling They vowed their loyalty to right a wrong. O War! I hate you for your grim pretending. Mask you no more as glory, heaven-sent. Too long the serried ranks have marched, unending, To kill and die, as to a sacrament. Your robes strip off! No goddess there revealing. Before you cheers of man-swayed mobs abate. The empty panoply now useless lying Reveals beneath your blood-dyed garments -- Hate. O God of Love! Too long earth's shackled children With fettered minds and fear-sealed lips were dumb. We pledge us now in truth and understanding To live the ancient prayer "They Kingdom Come". | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...ADOLF EICHMANN by HAYDEN CARRUTH THE IMPOSSIBLE INDISPENSIBILITY OF THE ARS POETICA by HAYDEN CARRUTH DESIRE by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON TRANSPOSITIONS by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON DOWN BY THE CARIB SEA: 2. LOS CIGARILLOS by JAMES WELDON JOHNSON AQUATINT FRAMED IN GOLD by AMY LOWELL |