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Anti-war essays, poems, short stories and literary excerpts
British writers on peace and war
Robert Herrick: The olive branch, the arch of peace
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Robert Herrick
The Rainbow
Look how the rainbow doth appear
But in one only hemisphere;
So likewise after our decease
No more is seen the arch of peace.
That cov’nant’s here, the under-bow,
That nothing shoots but war and woe.
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Hope Heartens
None goes to warfare but with this intent –
The gains must dead the fears of detriment.
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The Hand and Tongue
Two parts of us successively command:
The tongue in peace; but then in war the hand.
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The Olive Branch
Sadly I walk’d within the field,
To see what comfort it would yield;
And as I went my private way
An olive branch before me lay,
And seeing it I made a stay,
And took it up and view’d it; then
Kissing the omen, said Amen;
Be, be it so, and let this be
A divination unto me;
That in short time my woes shall cease
And Love shall crown my end with peace.
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