ACCURS'D BE HE THAT FIRST INVENTED WAR!
by: Christopher Marlowe
(1564-1593)
- CCURS'D
be he that first invented war!
- They knew not, ah, they knew not, simple men,
- How those were hit by pelting cannon-shot
- Stand staggering like a quivering aspen-leaf
- Fearing the force of Boreas' boisterous blasts!
- In what a lamentable case where I,
- If nature had not given me wisdom's lore!
- For kings are clouts that every man shoots at,
- Our crown the pin that thousands seek to cleave:
- Therefore in policy I think it good
- To hide it close; a goodly stratagem,
- And far from any man that is a fool:
- So shall not I be known; or if I be,
- They cannot take away my crown from me.
- Here will I hide it in this simple hole.
"Accurs'd be he that first
invented war!" is reprinted from Tamburlaine the Great.
Christopher Marlowe. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1919. |
MORE POEMS BY CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE |
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