‘In Time of War’

‘In Time of War’

From the February 1916 issue of the Socialist Standard

 

    If at this time of brute force paramount,

    When death itself is made the creed of men;

    When love is held of small or no account,

    And beauty scorned alike of voice and pen;

    There yet should be, hidden amid the crowd,

    Some finer spirits, shrinking and alone,

    Who hear the voice of Wisdom cry aloud

    Before Life’s temples, stricken, overthrown;

    Now should they lift above the noise and strife

    Their song of hope, of confidence supreme

    In love and beauty; now indeed should scan

    The wide horizon of a boundless life,

    Wherein the poet’s song, the dreamer’s dream

    Shall stem the mad brutality of man.

 

F. J. Webb

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