So Many Blood-Lakes

Robinson Jeffers 1887 (Allegheny) – 1962 (Carmel-by-the-Sea)



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

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 gaurd 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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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

51 sec read
50

Quick analysis:

Scheme XXXX AXXX AXAX BXBX
Closest metre Iambic heptameter
Characters 898
Words 169
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4

Robinson Jeffers

John Robinson Jeffers was an American poet, known for his work about the central California coast. more…

All Robinson Jeffers poems | Robinson Jeffers Books

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