ODE ON HEARING THE DRUM.

1 I hate that drum's discordant sound,

Parading round, and round, and round:

To thoughtless youth it pleasure yields,

And lures from cities and from fields,

To sell their liberty for charms

Of tawdry lace, and glittering arms;

And when ambition's voice commands,

To march, and fight, and fall, in foreign lands.

2 I hate that drum's discordant sound,

Parading round, and round, and round:

To me it talks of ravaged plains,

And burning towns, and ruined swains,

And mangled limbs, and dying groans,

And widows' tears, and orphans' moans;

And all that misery's hand bestows,

To fill the catalogue of human woes.

Specimens with Memoirs of the Less-known British Poets, Volume 3 · 第 121 / 184 题