Peace and War

by Jesse Edgar Middleton

A pleasant river, clear and blue,

Went singing to the sea.
The sunbeam joined them hand in hand

To dance the melody.
The courtly rushes bowed their heads

As nobles to the Queen,
And saw, reflected in the wave,
Their coats of Lincoln green.

God made such horrors? Count that word a lie.
God made the pleasant river, clear and blue,
Peace is His handiwork, and love, and joy,
While man makes sewers and artillery,
Grim bayonets, and howitzers and shell,
The battle-squadron surging through the tides,
Ten thousand hecatombs of reeking red
And all the vile magnificence of War.