Put off, put off your mail, O kings, And beat your brands to dust!
Your hands must learn a surer grasp; Your hearts, a better trust.
Oh, bend aback the lance"s point, And break the helmet bar!
A noise is in the morning wind, But not the note of war.
Upon the grassy mountain paths, The glittering hosts increase:
They come !They come ! How fair their feet!
They come who publish peace.
And victory, fair victory, Our enemies are ours !
For all the clouds are clasped in light, And all the earth with flowers.
Aye, still depressed, and dim with dew;
But wait a little while,
And, with the radiant, deathless rose, The wilderness shall smile.
And every tender, living thing Shall feed by streams of rest;Nor lambs shall from the flock be lost, Nor nestling from the nest.
John Ruskin
Author.-John Ruskin (1819-1900) was born in London and educated at Oxford. He was an author, art critic, and social reformer.
General.-The whole poem is a free rendering of the 52nd chapterof Isaiah, with fragments from other chapters of the same book. What benefits would follow the abolition of war? Discuss what is being done now to rid the world of war. How can one help the movement?