Peace Should Not Come

Peace should not come along this foul, earth way.     Peace should not come, until we cleanse the path.     God waited for us; now in awful wrath     He pours the blood of men out day by day     To purify the highroad for her feet.     Why, what would Peace do, in a world where hearts     Are filled with thoughts like poison-pointed darts?     It were not meet, surely it were not meet     For Peace to come, and with her white robes hide     These industries of death - these guns and swords, -     These uniformed, hate-filled, destructive hordes, -     These hideous things, that are each nation's pride.     So long as men believe in armed might     Let arms be brandished.    Let not Peace be sought     Until the race-heart empties out all thought     Of blows and blood, as arguments for Right.     The world has never had enough of war,     Else war were not.    Now let the monster stand,     Until he slays himself with his own hand;     Though no man knows what he is fighting for.     Then in the place where wicked cannons stood     Let Peace erect her shrine of Brotherhood.