Poem for the day

`Trail all your pikes`

Trail all your pikes, dispirit every drum,
March in a slow procession from afar,
Ye silent, ye dejected men of war!
Be still the hautboys, and the flute be dumb!
Display no more, in vain, the loftly banner.
For see! where on the bier before ye lies
The pale, the fall`n th`untimely sacrafice
To your mistaken shrine, to your false idol Honour!
from ALL IS VANITY

Anne Finch, Countess of Winchilsea (1661 - 1720)

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