Slaughter

Within the violence of the storm

The wise men are made dumb:

Young bones are hollowed by the worm;

The babe dies in the womb.

Above the lover's mouth is pressed

The silence of a stone:

Fate rides upon an iron beast

And tramples cities down.

And shall the multitudinous grave

Our enmity inter;

These dungeons of misrule enslave

Our bitterness and fear?

All are the conquered; and in vain

The laurel binds the brow:

The phantoms of the dead remain

And from our faces show.