NOTHING BUT THE ALL

  

Young men and women, answer not the call

When politicians beat the drums of War:

Lay down your lives for nothing but the All.

 

Seek not for foes, but stem the bitter gall

Fermenting in a blind heart’s’ seething core.

Young men and women, answer not the call.

 

The world cannot be kept out by a Wall,

Or broken into Theirs and Mine and Yours.

Lay down your lives for nothing but the All.

 

Think not that when you stand so brave and tall

Your sins are covered by your uniforms:

Young men and women, answer not the call.

 

Two guardians enforce the Moral Law:

Your Conscience and your Shame sustain its norms.

Lay down your lives for nothing but the All.

 

Far better to be shunned or killed than fall

To that great folly, though you be abhorred.

Young men and women, answer not the call.

Lay down your lives for nothing but the All.