Classic Poem

Reason and Recollection, — do ye sleep
In some deep dark abyss, — deaf, dumb, and dead!
Or are ye tired of Justice, Truth, and Life,
And long for days of silence? that I hear
A million minions vauntingly attest
That peace has crowned our Nation, even peace;
While other states are foaming with revenge,
And the life-blood is streaming from their veins,
'Mid red commotion, sacrifice, and strife,
Most awful to behold! — Have we not had
The sourest dregs of War? the foulest too;
That which mankind may most abominate, —
The spiteful, spirit-gnawing war of words, —
The slaughtering swords of language, — and the barbs
Of wicked thought, — the cannons of despite, —
The piercing arrows of excitement, — and
The fatal balls of opposition's power!
All these have showered in thick rebellion round
Our aching heads, with searching serpent-sting,
And kept our souls in trouble and dismay:
This War is worse than that which ends in death.
Henceforth, let no one say that Peace is ours,
Till Malice, with her fiend-attendants cease
To revel in her majesty and might
With giant-stride o'er Earth.