War (From “Songs of Joy”) by William H. Davies. Upton Sinclair, ed. 1915. The Cry for Justice

Upton Sinclair, ed. (1878–1968).
The Cry for Justice: An Anthology of the Literature of Social Protest. 1915.

War
(From “Songs of Joy”)

By William H. Davies

(An English poet whose “Autobiography of a Super-tramp” was given to the world with an introduction by Bernard Shaw)


YE Liberals and Conservatives,
Have pity on our human lives,
Waste not more blood on human strife;
Until we know some way to use
This human blood we take or lose,	5
’Tis sin to sacrifice our life.

When pigs are stuck we save their blood
And make puddings for our food,
The sweetest and the cheapest meat;
And many a woman, man and boy	10
Have ate those puddings with great joy,
And oft-times in the open street.

Let’s not have war till we can make,
Of this sweet life we lose or take,
Some kind of pudding of man’s gore;	15
So that the clergy in each parish
May save the lives of those that famish
Because meat’s dear and times are poor.