"The War Prayer" by Mark Twain
This anti-war poem was written in the aftermath of the Spanish-American War, and the Phillipine-American War. Under much pressure, Twain decided to wait until after his death to have this prose published, saying "None but the dead are permitted to tell the truth."
O Lord our Father, our young patriots, idols of our hearts, go forth to battle -- be Thou near them! With them -- in spirit -- we also go forth from the sweet peace of our beloved firesides to smite the foe. O Lord our God, help us to tear their soldiers to bloody shreds with our shells; help us to cover their smiling fields with the pale forms of their patriot dead; help us to drown the thunder of the guns with the shrieks of their wounded, writhing in pain; help us to lay waste their humble homes with a hurricane of fire; help us to wring the hearts of their unoffending widows with unavailing grief; help us to turn them out roofless with little children to wander unfriended the wastes of their desolated land in rags and hunger and thirst, sports of the sun flames of summer and the icy winds of winter, broken in spirit, worn with travail, imploring Thee for the refuge of the grave and denied it -- for our sakes who adore Thee, Lord, blast their hopes, blight their lives, protract their bitter pilgrimage, make heavy their steps, water their way with their tears, stain the white snow with the blood of their wounded feet! We ask it, in the spirit of love, of Him Who is the Source of Love, and Who is the ever-faithful refuge and friend of all that are sore beset and seek His aid with humble and contrite hearts. Amen.
Source: www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/5/28/155431/792
3 comments:
Does Twain's brilliance know no bounds? Nice post. Good to have that message out there, detailing the absurdity of war.
Yeah, Twain had a way with words!
Absurdity of war - and perhaps more pertinently - religion. Let's do it all in the name of "our" superior god and that is vindication enough...just don't think about it too much !!
Somebody needs to tell your president (and our new Prime-minister...although it seems he might have the will to break free of the yoke) that success in Iraq by present means is insuperable...someone might also need to tell him what the word means of course.
More generally, genius, like gold and precious stones,
is chiefly prized because of its rarity.
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