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Anti-war essays, poems, short stories and literary excerpts
British writers on peace and war
Abraham Cowley: Only peace breeds scarcity in Hell
Abraham Cowley: To give peace and then the rules of peace
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Abraham Cowley
This happy concord in no blood is writ,
None can grudge Heaven full thanks for it:
No mothers here lament their children’s fate.
And like the peace, but think it comes too late.
No widows hear the jocund bells.
And take them for their husbands’ knells:
No drop of blood is spilt, which might be said
To mark our joyful holiday with red.
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The armour now may be hung up to sight.
And only in their halls the children fright.
The gain of civil wars will not allow
Bay to the conqueror’s brow:
At such a game what fool would venture in.
Where one must lose, yet neither side can win?
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