Upton Sinclair, ed. (1878–1968).
The Cry for Justice: An Anthology of the Literature of Social Protest. 1915. | | | | The Illusion of War |
By Richard Le Gallienne |
(American poet, born in England, 1866–1947) |
| | | WAR I abhor, and yet how sweet | |
| The sound along the marching street | |
| Of drum and fife, and I forget | |
| Wet eyes of widows, and forget | |
| Broken old mothers, and the whole | 5 |
| Dark butchery without a soul. | |
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| Without a soul, save this bright drink | |
| Of heady music, sweet as hell; | |
| And even my peace-abiding feet | |
| Go marching with the marching street— | 10 |
| For yonder, yonder goes the fife, | |
| And what care I for human life! | |
| |
| The tears fill my astonished eyes, | |
| And my full heart is like to break; | |
| And yet ’tis all embannered lies, | 15 |
| A dream those little drummers make. | |
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| O, it is wickedness to clothe | |
| Yon hideous grinning thing that stalks, | |
| Hidden in music, like a queen, | |
| That in a garden of glory walks, | 20 |
| Till good men love the thing they loathe. | |
| |
| Art, thou hast many infamies, | |
| But not an infamy like this— | |
| Oh, snap the fife, and still the drum, | |
| And show the monster as she is! | 25 | | | |
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