I will not bear my country's arms again In foreign war. I will not fight and spill The pulsing life of other chosen men To guard the gains of trade. My heart and will Shall not be blinded, led to slaughter, sold By marketmasters as their slaves. My blood Belongs to home-land, whose defense I hold My duty and my privilege. No flood Of greed-spawned lies shall bear me overseas To kill the sons of other mothers, or To die, fetching for commerce-kings their keys, Patterned in power-lust, reeking, red with war -- I will not fight in war on foreign soil, To conquer for these profit-lords more spoil. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SONNET: 94 by WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE A JEWISH FAMILY; IN A SMALL VALLEY OPPOSITE ST. GOAR by WILLIAM WORDSWORTH HUSH OF TWILIGHT by G. KENYON ASHENDEN ASSOCIATIONS by EDWARD ROBERT BULWER-LYTTON WHAT MATTERS IT? by GEORGE FREDERICK CAMERON SONNET: HE RAILS AGAINST DANTE, WHO CENSURED HIS HOMAGE TO BECCHINA by CECCO ANGIOLIERI DA SIENA EASTER DAY: NAPLES, 1849 by ARTHUR HUGH CLOUGH |