I will not seek the battle-field -
The men I there should meet,
What have they done to me to make
Shedding their life-blood sweet?
It is the veriest madness man
In maddest mood can frame,
To feed the earth with human gore,
And then to call it fame.
I have been wrong'd; but were my wrong
The deadliest wrong ere done,
I would not slay my enemy,
But bid him still live on :-
And I should deem my vengeance more
Than the death-wound in strife-
What ills can death inflict like those
Heap'd on each hour of life? (Letitia Elizabeth Landon)

I will not seek the battle-field - The men I there should meet, What have they done to me to make Shedding their life-blood sweet? It is the veriest madness man In maddest mood can frame, To feed the earth with human gore, And then to call it fame. I have been wrong'd; but were my wrong The deadliest wrong ere done, I would not slay my enemy, But bid him still live on :- And I should deem my vengeance more Than the death-wound in strife- What ills can death inflict like those Heap'd on each hour of life?

Letitia Elizabeth Landon

Related topics

bid call death deem done earth enemy ere fame feed frame gore hour human men life live mad madness man meet mood seek should shedding slay strife sweet vengeance wrong battle-field

Related quotes