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Anti-war essays, poems, short stories and literary excerpts
American writers on peace and against war
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Derrick Norman Lehmer
Militarism
Like molten lava down the mountain steep
I poured my myriad armies on their land;
I reaped fertile fields with flaming brand;
I trod their cities to a smoking heap.
Bleating before me like a flock of sheep
Harried by wolves, a timid wailing band,
I drove their villagers with iron hand;
Laughed at their tears, laughed at their curses deep.
And now defeated, desolate I stand
Lone in the desert. All about me sweep
The ghostly winds. My place is in the sun –
But where are my armies? Soon the sand
Will sink me in oblivion. I shall sleep
With Nineveh, with Tyre and Babylon.
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