A Peaceful Heart’s Desire

From The Sun, August 18, 1914. By C. E. E.

I’m tired of seeing Mars preempt the center of the stage.
I’m tired of seeing war news spread across the whole front page;
I’m wearying of armies, forts and mines and fighting crews.
I want to see the old familiar headlines in the news.

Instead of “German Shell Fire Sets a Belgian Town Aflame,”
I’d read of “Kansan Victimized by Wire Tapping Game.”
I see that “Thousand Belgians Put a German Corps to Flight,”
But want to know that “Pankhurst Vows She Will Not Eat a Bite.”

I learn today that “French and German Birdmen Clash in Air,”
But miss the “Actress, Jilted, Sues a Pittsburg Millionaire.”
What boots it that “Italians Threaten Now to Join the Fray,”
If I can’t read that “Scientist Makes Hens Lay Twice a Day”?

And though it’s true that “Russia Captures Eighty German Spies,”
I long to learn that “T. R. Stamps Barnes’s Statements Willful Lies.”
I’m wearying of armies, forts and mines and fighting crews.
I want to see the old familiar headlines in the news!