4590510Poems — Krieg Ist KriegSara Beaumont Kennedy
"KRIEG IST KRIEG"
"WAR is war;" that is the Prussian's oath,
The alpha and omega of his creed.
All that is best of earth goes down,
Sucked in by his devouring greed.
There is no whisper in his inmost soul
Of paths that love and trust have trod.
There is no virtue that he will not foul,
In temple walls he sees no God.

Remorseless as the Moloch of old days,
He crushes what he cannot use—
Not that he cared, but, in his fiendish hate,
That those who cherished it may lose.
His dream is cruelty, his hand is steel;
With devils from all depths he is in league
To gain the goal his ruthless lust has set,
And justifies himself with: "Krieg its Krieg."

Yea; war IS war, but all humanity
Owes to itself to keep aglow
The Christ-spark 'neath the reddened shield of Mars,
The mercy-torch that shows the bleeding foe.
For men may fight and keep their faith in God—
Such strife has been since Cain's red birth;
But Prussian creeds blow out the altar lights—
War is NOT war, but HELL ON EARTH!!