I hate that drum's discordant sound, Parading round, and round, and round: To thoughtless youth its pleasure yields, And lures from cities and from fields, To sell their liberty for charms Of tawdry lace, and glittering arms; And when Ambition's voice commands, To march and fight, and fall, in foreign lands. I hate that drum's discordant sound, Parading round, and round, and round: To me it talks of ravaged plains, And burning towns, and ruined swains, And mangled limbs, and dying groans, And widow's tears, and orphan's moans; And all that Misery's hand bestows, To fill the catalogue of human woes. |