Rhymes of a Red Cross Man

<p><SPAN name="link2H_4_0047" id="link2H_4_0047"></SPAN></p> <br/> <h2> The Song of the Pacifist </h2> <p>What do they matter, our headlong hates, when we take the toll of our Dead?<br/> Think ye our glory and gain will pay for the torrent of blood we have shed?<br/> By the cheers of our Victory will the heart of the mother be comforted?<br/> <br/> If by the Victory all we mean is a broken and brooding foe;<br/> Is the pomp and power of a glitt'ring hour, and a truce for an age or so:<br/> By the clay-cold hand on the broken blade we have smitten a bootless blow!<br/> <br/> If by the Triumph we only prove that the sword we sheathe is bright;<br/> That justice and truth and love endure; that freedom's throned on the height;<br/> That the feebler folks shall be unafraid; that Might shall never be Right;<br/> <br/> If this be all: by the blood-drenched plains, by the havoc of fire and fear,<br/> By the rending roar of the War of Wars, by the Dead so doubly dear. . . .<br/> Then our Victory is a vast defeat, and it mocks us as we cheer.<br/> <br/> Victory! there can be but one, hallowed in every land:<br/> When by the graves of our common dead we who were foemen stand;<br/> And in the hush of our common grief hand is tendered to hand.<br/> <br/> Triumph! Yes, when out of the dust in the splendour of their release<br/> The spirits of those who fell go forth and they hallow our hearts to peace,<br/> And, brothers in pain, with world-wide voice,<br/> we clamour that War shall cease.<br/> <br/> Glory! Ay, when from blackest loss shall be born most radiant gain;<br/> When over the gory fields shall rise a star that never shall wane:<br/> Then, and then only, our Dead shall know that they have not fall'n in vain.<br/> <br/> When our children's children shall talk of War as a madness that may not be;<br/> When we thank our God for our grief to-day, and blazon from sea to sea<br/> In the name of the Dead the banner of Peace . . . <i>THAT WILL BE VICTORY.</i><br/></p> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />