Ballads of Peace in War

<h2> THE PHILOSOPHERS </h2> <p>The best of true philosophers<br/> Are the children, after all,&mdash;<br/> The children with laughing hearts<br/> And the serious field and ball:<br/> They have a bowl and bubbles,<br/> And hours where rainbows are;<br/> They find, if ever the sun is hid,<br/> In every dark a star.<br/> <br/> But, O, the sorry men that make<br/> The wise books of our day!<br/> They cannot smile athwart a cloud,<br/> When black thoughts lead astray;<br/> They cannot add a simple sum,<br/> But talk like drunken men,<br/> And shut their eyes to keep out God<br/> When spring comes in again.<br/> <br/> Far simpler than the Rule of Three<br/> Are the laws of earth and sky;<br/> Yet fools will muddle all true thought,<br/> And pride will have its cry;<br/> The banners with their deadly words<br/> Go reeling on unfurled,<br/> And sin and sadness march along<br/> To the heartbreak of the world.<br/></p> <p><SPAN name="link2H_4_0018" id="link2H_4_0018"></SPAN></p> <br/> <h2> THE PHILOSOPHERS </h2> <p>But the children are the wise men,<br/> With the clearest heart and mind;<br/> If two and one are three, they say,<br/> Then truth is near to find;<br/> If this be now that once was not,<br/> If things must have a cause,<br/> Then very simple is the sum<br/> That God is in His laws.<br/> <br/> The world's men that are fools enough,<br/> They will not speak that way,<br/> But with a cloud of muddled thought<br/> They hide the light of day;<br/> Yet laughing words and candid truth<br/> Abide by field and hall,<br/> Where the best of true philosophers<br/> Are the children, after all.<br/></p> <p><SPAN name="link2H_4_0019" id="link2H_4_0019"></SPAN></p> <br/> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />