A Poet Goes to War

I WAS a captive too while yet uncaught:
I held that men but by mistake did ill —
And helped to punish them, thought guiltless still.
I had no freedom, yet for freedom fought.
I left my joyful love, and hatred sought,
And wishing men to live, I tried to kill;
And so, unwilling to obey my will,
Forsook my duty to do what I ought.
No, there’s no answer, though I think and think.
War’s Chaos; and no man can Cosmos frame
Unless he fling his soul in the ruin there.
Then must he stand and watch, and watch it sink
Amid the whirl of anger, fear, and shame;
And like a patient madman he must stare.