During the years when the white men fought each other,
I observed how the aged cried aloud in public places
Of honour and chivalry, and the duty of the young;
And how the young ceased doing the pleasant things of youth,
And became suddenly old,
And marched away to defend the aged.
And I observed how the aged
Became suddenly young;
And mouthed fair phrases one to the other upon the Supreme Sacrifice,
And turned to their account-books, murmuring gravely:
Business as Usual;
And brought out bottles of wine and drank the health
Of the young men they had sent out to die for them.