Explore "The Peaceful Warrior" by Henry van Dyke on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
I have no joy in strife, / Peace is my great desire; / Yet God forbid I lose my life / Through fear to face the fire.
A peaceful man must fight / For that which peace demands --
Freedom and faith, honor and right, / Defend with heart and hands.
Farewell, my friendly books; / Farewell, ye woods and streams; / The fate that calls me forward looks / To a duty beyond dreams.
Oh, better to be dead / With a face turned to the sky, / Than live beneath a slavish dread / And serve a giant lie.
Stand up, my heart, and strive / For the things most dear to thee!
Why should we care to be alive / Unless the world is free?
May, 1918.