FIFES AND DRUMS
109
You cannot change the written scroll
Nor alter the charted plan,
Ever must moaning women quail
And man make war on man;
Out of strength must sweetness come—
Out of sacrifice
We melt the metal and forge the key
To enter Paradise.
I thank my fathers for what they paid
On the altar of the years,
I thank the women who gave me birth
In agony and tears;
I could not wish that life should ask
One payment less from me,
And the bugle-call of the arming hosts
Sets their old passion free.
Willard Wattles.