So Many Blood-Lakes

Robinson Jeffers

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We have now won two world-wars, neither of which concerned us, we were
slipped in. We have leveled the powers
Of Europe, that were the powers of the world, into rubble and
dependence. We have won two wars and a third is coming.

This one—will not be so easy. We were at ease while the powers of the
world were split into factions: we've changed that.
We have enjoyed fine dreams; we have dreamed of unifying the world; we
are unifying it—against us.

Two wars, and they breed a third. Now guard the beaches, watch the
north, trust not the dawns. Probe every cloud.
Build power. Fortress America may yet for a long time stand, between the
east and the west, like Byzantium.

—As for me: laugh at me. I agree with you. It is a foolish business to
see the future and screech at it.
One should watch and not speak. And patriotism has run the world through
so many blood-lakes: and we always fall in.

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Comments1
  • juliabranco453

    Just read "So Many Blood-Lakes" and wow, it really makes ya think about the cycle of war and how we get dragged into it. The way it talks about unifying the world against us, hits a little too close to home... kinda chilling.