My two favorite poets, Robert Service and Edgar Allen Poe, have already been mentioned, so I'll skip those. The following was on a John Denver album back in the early/mid 1970's and I found it quite haunting (hey, I was less than 6 years old at the time). Actually, I still do.
The Box (by Lascelles)
Once upon a time in the land of hush-a-bye,
around about the wondrous days of yore,
I came across a sort of box
bound up with chains and locked with locks
and labelled, "Kindly do not touch...
...It’s war."
Well, a decree was issued round about
all with a flourish and a shout
and a gaily coloured mascot tripping lightly on before:
"Don’t fiddle with this deadly box
or break the chains or pick the locks.
And please, don’t ever play about with war."
Well, the children understood,
Children happen to be good,
And they were just as good around the time of yore
They didn’t try to pick the locks,
or break into that deadly box
They never tried to play about with war
Mommies didn’t either
Sisters, aunts, grannies neither
‘Cause they were quiet and sweet and pretty
in those wondrous days of yore
Well, very much the same as now,
They're not the ones to blame somehow
For opening up that deadly box of war
But someone did.
Someone battered in the lid
And spilled the insides out across the floor
A sort of bouncy, bumpy ball
made up of guns and flags and all
the tears and horror and the death that goes with war.
It bounced right out
And went bashing all about
And bumping into everything in store
And what was sad and most unfair
is that it didn’t seem to care much who it bumped...
...or why
...or what
...or for.
It bumped the children mainly.
And I’ll tell you this quite plainly
It bumps them every day, and more and more, and leaves them
dead and burned and dying
Thousands of them, sick and crying
'Cause when it bumps, it’s really very sore
Now there’s a way to stop the ball
It isn’t difficult at all
All it takes is wisdom
I’m absolutely sure that we could get it back into the box
And bind the chains and lock the locks
But no one seems to want to save the children any more
Well, that’s the way it all appears
'Cause it’s been bouncing round for years and years
In spite of all the wisdom wiz since those wondrous days of yore
Since the time they came across the box
Bound up with chains and locked with locks
And labelled:
"Kindly do not touch...
It’s war"
*Sheridan
The Box (by Lascelles)
Once upon a time in the land of hush-a-bye,
around about the wondrous days of yore,
I came across a sort of box
bound up with chains and locked with locks
and labelled, "Kindly do not touch...
...It’s war."
Well, a decree was issued round about
all with a flourish and a shout
and a gaily coloured mascot tripping lightly on before:
"Don’t fiddle with this deadly box
or break the chains or pick the locks.
And please, don’t ever play about with war."
Well, the children understood,
Children happen to be good,
And they were just as good around the time of yore
They didn’t try to pick the locks,
or break into that deadly box
They never tried to play about with war
Mommies didn’t either
Sisters, aunts, grannies neither
‘Cause they were quiet and sweet and pretty
in those wondrous days of yore
Well, very much the same as now,
They're not the ones to blame somehow
For opening up that deadly box of war
But someone did.
Someone battered in the lid
And spilled the insides out across the floor
A sort of bouncy, bumpy ball
made up of guns and flags and all
the tears and horror and the death that goes with war.
It bounced right out
And went bashing all about
And bumping into everything in store
And what was sad and most unfair
is that it didn’t seem to care much who it bumped...
...or why
...or what
...or for.
It bumped the children mainly.
And I’ll tell you this quite plainly
It bumps them every day, and more and more, and leaves them
dead and burned and dying
Thousands of them, sick and crying
'Cause when it bumps, it’s really very sore
Now there’s a way to stop the ball
It isn’t difficult at all
All it takes is wisdom
I’m absolutely sure that we could get it back into the box
And bind the chains and lock the locks
But no one seems to want to save the children any more
Well, that’s the way it all appears
'Cause it’s been bouncing round for years and years
In spite of all the wisdom wiz since those wondrous days of yore
Since the time they came across the box
Bound up with chains and locked with locks
And labelled:
"Kindly do not touch...
It’s war"
*Sheridan
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