The vicar sat in the firelight's glow,
A volume in his hand,
And a tear he shed for the widespread woe,
And the anguish brought by the vicious foe
That overran the land.

But never a hand for his King raised he,
For he was a man of peace;
And he car'd not a whit for the victory
That must come to preserve his nation free,
And the world from fear release.

His son had buckled on his sword,
The first at the front was he.
But the vicar his valiant child ignor'd
And his noble deeds in the field deplor'd,
For he knew not bravery.

On his flock he strove to fix his will,
And lead them to scorn the fray.
He told them that conquest brings but ill;
That meek submission would serve them still
To keep the foe away.

In vain did he hear the bugle's sound
That strove to avert the fall.
The land, quoth he, is all men's ground,
What matter if friend or foe be found
As master of us all?

One day from the village green hard by
The vicar heard a roar
Of cannon that rival'd the anguish'd cry
Of the hundreds that liv'd but wish'd to die
As the enemy rode them o'er.

Now he sees his own cathedral shake
At the foemen's wanton aim.
The ancient towers with the bullets quake;
The steeples fall, the foundations break,
And the whole is lost in flame.

Up the vicarage lane file the cavalcade,
And the vicar, and daughter, and wife
Scream out in vain for the needed aid
That only a regiment might have made
Ere they lose what is more than life.

Then quick to his brain came manhood's thought.
As he saw his erring course,
And the vicar his dusty rifle brought
That the foe might at least by one be fought,
And force repaid with force.

One shot - the enemy's blasting fire
A breach in the wall cuts through,
But the vicar replies with his wakened ire;
Fells one arm'd brute for each fallen spire,
And in blood is born anew.

Two shots - the wife and daughter sink,
Each with a mortal wound,
And the vicar, too madden'd by far to think,
Rushes boldly on to death's vague brink
With the manhood he has found.

Three shots - but shots of another kind
The smoky regions rend.
And upon the foemen with rage gone blind,
like a ceaseless, resistless, avenging wind,
The rescuing troops descend.

The smoke-pall clears, and the vicar's son
His father's life has sav'd.
And the vicar looks o'er ruin done,
Ere the victory by his child was won,
His face with care engrav'd.

The vicar sat in the firelight's glow,
The volume in his hand
That brought to his hearth the bitter woe
Which only a husband and father can know,
And truly understand.

With a chasten'd mien he flung the book
To the leaping flames before,
And a breath of sad relief he took
As the pages blacken'd beneath his look -
The fool of peace no more!

Epilogue

The reverend parson, wak'd to man's estate,
Laments his wife's and daughter's common fate.
His martial son in warm embrace enfolds,
And clings the tighter to the child he holds:
His peaceful notions, banish'd in an hour,
Will nevermore his wit or sense devour,
But steep'd in truth, 'tis now his nobler plan
To cure, yet recognize, the faults of man.

We are more often treacherous through weakness than through calculation. ~Francois De La Rochefoucauld

A man with one watch knows what time it is; a man with two watches is never quite sure. ~Lee Segall

Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end; then stop. ~Lewis Carrol, Alice in Wonderland

Believe those who are seeking the truth. Doubt those who find it. ~Andre Gide

Beware lest you lose the substance by grasping at the shadow. ~Aesop

Only that in you which is me can hear what I'm saying. ~Baba Ram Dass

I am a part of all that I have met. ~Alfred Lord Tennyson

There's more to the truth than just the facts. ~Author Unknown

Even a clock that does not work is right twice a day. ~Polish Proverb

Losing an illusion makes you wiser than finding a truth. ~Ludwig Börne

If a man who cannot count finds a four-leaf clover, is he lucky? ~Stanislaw J. Lec

The obscure we see eventually. The completely obvious, it seems, takes longer. ~Edward R. Murrow

We are all but recent leaves on the same old tree of life and if this life has adapted itself to new functions and conditions, it uses the same old basic principles over and over again. There is no real difference between the grass and the man who mows it. ~Albert Szent-Györgyi

Sometimes it's necessary to go a long distance out of the way in order to come back a short distance correctly. ~Edward Albee

When the student is ready, the master appears. ~Buddhist Proverb

A gun gives you the body, not the bird. ~Henry David Thoreau

Before enlightenment - chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment - chop wood, carry water. ~Zen Buddhist Proverb

Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after. ~Henry David Thoreau

Wars and elections are both too big and too small to matter in the long run. The daily work - that goes on, it adds up. ~Barbara Kingsolver, Animal Dreams

I tell you everything that is really nothing, and nothing of what is everything, do not be fooled by what I am saying. Please listen carefully and try to hear what I am not saying. ~Charles C. Finn

Oh, Heaven, it is mysterious, it is awful to consider that we not only carry a future Ghost within us; but are, in very deed, Ghosts! ~Thomas Carlyle

Knock on the sky and listen to the sound. ~Zen Saying

The fish trap exists because of the fish. Once you've gotten the fish you can forget the trap. The rabbit snare exists because of the rabbit. Once you've gotten the rabbit, you can forget the snare. Words exist because of meaning. Once you've gotten the meaning, you can forget the words. Where can I find a man who has forgotten words so I can talk with him? ~Chuang Tzu

By daily dying I have come to be. ~Theodore Roethke

There are some remedies worse than the disease. ~Publilius Syrus

You never know what is enough, until you know what is more than enough. ~William Blake, Proverbs of Hell

It requires a great deal of faith for a man to be cured by his own placebos. ~John L. McClenahan

What you see, yet can not see over, is as good as infinite. ~Thomas Carlyle, Sartor Resartus, Book II, chapter 1

Philosophy is life's dry-nurse, who can take care of us - but not suckle us. ~Soren Kierkegaard

One man's quiet is another man's din. ~Carrie Latet

Men are probably nearer the central truth in their superstitions than in their science. ~Henry David Thoreau

Think like a man of action, act like a man of thought. ~Henri Louis Bergson

If you think you're free, there's no escape possible. ~Ram Dass

The fly that doesn't want to be swatted is most secure when it lights on the fly-swatter. ~G.C. Lichtenberg

Don't miss the donut by looking through the hole. ~Author Unknown

You can't wake a person who is pretending to be asleep. ~Navajo Proverb

Life has the name of life, but in reality it is death. ~Heraclitus, Eustathius ad Iliad

To learn something ne

There is a wall that runs right through me
Just like the city, I will never be joined
What is this love? Why can I never hold it?
Did it really run out in the strangers' bedrooms?

I
I have decided
At twenty-five
Something must change

Saturday night in East Berlin
We took the U-Bahn to the East Side Gallery
I was sure I'd found love with this one lying with me
Crying again in the old bahnhof

I
I have decided
At twenty-five
That something must change

After sex
The bitter taste
Been fooled again
The search continues