Take Your Gun - Jacob Bronowski

Man, take your gun: and put to shame

earthquake and plague, the acts of God.

You maim the crazy and the lame.

Terror is their palsy, the knees

of men buckle for fear of man.

You are the God whom frenzy pleases.

You are the gas-man, and the flier

who drops his bomb; the man in tanks.

You wire mines and fear the fire.

And dig the hollow street with trenches

the gas-main and the sewer cross.

The stench of dead men makes you flinch.

But if the dying whimper, pain

pricks you like courage, like delight.

The vein sings to the cruel brain.

What are you, man, that gun in hand

with savagery and pity go,

and face to face with madness stand;

and acid-drenched and poison-sprayed

see flame run lovely like a wake

from raiders; and the burning lake

shake overhead? You are afraid.

The shadow flickers on the wall

like morse, like gun-shot. Terror walks

the tall roofs where the snipers hawk.

He stalks you, man. And, man, you fall.

---

Jacob Bronowski (1908 - 1974) Poland (lived in England)

Source: All Poetry