War Poem by Charlotte Dacre

SEE bloody Discord lift her envious head,
And shake the hissing serpents from her hair:
Then o'er the earth see wild Confusion spread,
And hast'ning evils beckon to Despair.

Who now with cheerfulness shall smiling toil,
And happy view the children of his care?
Say, who with industry shall dress the soil,
For whom the wife her frugal store prepare?

Must the delight which deck'd the honest brow,
The tender father sad and silent droop?
The smile contented, and the healthful glow,
Alike be banish'd from the guiltless group?

Wild with despair, the mournful father flies
To gain or death or glory in the field,
Distracted fights, to still his children's cries,
And nobly bleeds, the bitter bread to yield.

The widow's tears must wet the harden'd ground,
The scanty crust in tears his offspring steep;
Yet ceaseless still, no end those tears have found;
For Father, Husband, Friend, they have to weep.