Explore "The Farewell" by Ella Wheeler Wilcox on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
'Tis not the untried soldier new to danger / Who fears to enter into active strife. / Amidst the roll of drums, the cannon's rattle, / He craves adventure, and thinks not of life.
But the scarred veteran knows the price of glory, / He does not court the conflict or the fray. / He has no longing to rehearse that gory / And most dramatic act, of war's dark play.
He who to love has always been a stranger / All unafraid may linger in your spell. / My heart has known the warfare, and its danger. / It craves no repetition -- so farewell.