Strict Accountability Poem by Maria Frances Cecilia Cowper

Long since their scattered bones are bleached and bare.
Fishes have fouled them, waters have outworn
Their beauty and their strength, the shark has torn
The flesh of women and of babes ; they stare
With sightless eyes into the darkness : there
Is neither sound nor motion, but forlorn
And desolate they lie, with none to mourn,
That once were young and fortunate and fair.
Think not their living friends will heed their cry,
For war is hazardous and peace is good,
And since they have exacted gold for blood
What further claim have the importunate dead
That weary them with crying ? So these lie
Unhonoured, unavenged, uncomforted.