Swords and Plowshares/Millennial

​Millennial

WHEN lambkin lieth down with fox,
And the leopard with an ox,
When cows and bears together feed,
While a little child shall lead,

When the lion crops his hay
Like a horse, and children play
Round the cockatrice's den—
Where will be the soldier then?

All his courage will be there,
All he ever dared to dare,
Glowing in their ardent eyes
With a calm of paradise.

But they will have lost for good
All the soldier's demon-mood:
All his cruelties and hates,
All that shocks and rasps and grates.

​
Once in man and quadruped
Lurked a Brute who now is dead.
Farewell, bloody fields and feasts!
Happy children, happy beasts!

This article is issued from Wikisource. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.