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  • Fire, Famine, and Slaughter[;] A War Eclogue

Fire, Famine, and Slaughter[;] A War Eclogue

  1. 1The Scene a desolated Tract in La Vendée. FAMINE is discovered lying
  2. 2on the ground; to her enter FIRE and SLAUGHTER.
  1. 3Fam. Sisters! sisters! who sent you here?
  1. 4Slau. [to Fire]. I will whisper it in her ear.
  1. 5Fire. No! no! no!
  2. 6Spirits hear what spirits tell:
  3. 7'Twill make a holiday in Hell.
  4. 8No! no! no!
  5. 9Myself, I named him once below,
  6. 10And all the souls, that damnéd be.
  7. 11Leaped up at once in anarchy,
  8. 12Clapped their hands and danced for glee.
  9. 13They no longer heeded me;
  10. 14But laughed to hear Hell's burning rafters
  11. 15Unwillingly re-echo laughters!
  12. 16No! no! no!
  13. 17Spirits hear what spirits tell:
  14. 18'Twill make a holiday in Hell!
  1. 19Fam. Whisper it, sister! so and so!
  2. 20In a dark hint, soft and slow.
  1. 21Slau. Letters four do form his name--
  2. 22And who sent you?
  1. 23Both. The same! the same!
  1. 24Slau. He came by stealth, and unlocked my den,
  2. 25And I have drunk the blood since then
  3. 26Of thrice three hundred thousand men.
  1. 27Both. Who bade you do 't?
  1. 28Slau. The same! the same!
  2. 29Letters four do form his name.
  3. 30He let me loose, and cried Halloo!
  4. 31To him alone the praise is due.
  1. 32Fam. Thanks, sister, thanks! the men have bled,
  2. 33Their wives and their children faint for bread.
  3. 34I stood in a swampy field of battle;
  4. 35With bones and skulls I made a rattle,
  5. 36To frighten the wolf and carrion-crow
  6. 37And the homeless dog--but they would not go.
  7. 38So off I flew: for how could I bear
  8. 39To see them gorge their dainty fare?
  9. 40I heard a groan and a peevish squall,
  10. 41And through the chink of a cottage-wall--
  11. 42Can you guess what I saw there?
  1. 43Both. Whisper it, sister! in our ear.
  1. 44Fam. A baby beat its dying mother:
  2. 45I had starved the one and was starving the other!
  1. 46Both. Who bade you do 't?
  1. 47Fam. The same! the same!
  2. 48Letters four do form his name.
  3. 49He let me loose, and cried, Halloo!
  4. 50To him alone the praise is due.
  1. 51Fire. Sisters! I from Ireland came!
  2. 52Hedge and corn-fields all on flame,
  3. 53I triumph'd o'er the setting sun!
  4. 54And all the while the work was done,
  5. 55On as I strode with my huge strides,
  6. 56I flung back my head and I held my sides,
  7. 57It was so rare a piece of fun
  8. 58To see the sweltered cattle run
  9. 59With uncouth gallop through the night,
  10. 60Scared by the red and noisy light!
  11. 61By the light of his own blazing cot
  12. 62Was many a naked Rebel shot:
  13. 63The house-stream met the flame and hissed,
  14. 64While crash! fell in the roof, I wist,
  15. 65On some of those old bed-rid nurses,
  16. 66That deal in discontent and curses.
  1. 67Both. Who bade you do't?
  1. 68Fire. The same! the same!
  2. 69Letters four do form his name.
  3. 70He let me loose, and cried Halloo!
  4. 71To him alone the praise is due.
  1. 72All. He let us loose, and cried Halloo!
  2. 73How shall we yield him honour due?
  1. 74Fam. Wisdom comes with lack of food.
  2. 75I'll gnaw, I'll gnaw the multitude,
  3. 76Till the cup of rage o'erbrim:
  4. 77They shall seize him and his brood--
  1. 78Slau. They shall tear him limb from limb!
  1. 79Fire. O thankless beldames and untrue!
  2. 80And is this all that you can do
  3. 81For him, who did so much for you?
  4. 82Ninety months he, by my troth!
  5. 83Hath richly catered for you both;
  6. 84And in an hour would you repay
  7. 85An eight years' work?--Away! away!
  8. 86I alone am faithful! I
  9. 87Cling to him everlastingly.