<h2><SPAN name="poem32"></SPAN>A PLEA TO PEACE</h2>
<p class="poetry">When mighty issues loom before us, all<br/>
The petty great men of the day seem small,<br/>
Like pigmies standing in a blaze of light<br/>
Before some grim majestic mountain-height.<br/>
War, with its bloody and impartial hand,<br/>
Reveals the hidden weakness of a land,<br/>
Uncrowns the heroes trusting Peace has made<br/>
Of men whose honour is a thing of trade,<br/>
And turns the searchlight full on many a place<br/>
Where proud conventions long have masked disgrace.<br/>
O lovely Peace! as thou art fair be wise.<br/>
Demand great men, and great men shall arise<br/>
To do thy bidding. Even as warriors come,<br/>
Swift at the call of bugle and of drum,<br/>
So at the voice of Peace, imperative<br/>
As bugle’s call, shall heroes spring to live<br/>
For country and for thee. In every land,<br/>
In every age, men are what times demand.<br/>
Demand the best, O Peace, and teach thy sons<br/>
They need not rush in front of death-charged guns<br/>
With murder in their hearts to prove their worth.<br/>
The grandest heroes who have graced the earth<br/>
Were love-filled souls who did not seek the fray,<br/>
But chose the safe, hard, high, and lonely way<br/>
Of selfless labour for a suffering world.<br/>
Beneath our glorious flag again unfurled<br/>
In victory such heroes wait to be<br/>
Called into bloodless action, Peace, by thee.<br/>
Be thou insistent in thy stern demand,<br/>
And wise, great men shall rise up in the land.</p>
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