602. The Drum by John Scott

John Scott read by Classic Poetry Aloud:

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Giving voice to the poetry of the past. ---------------------------------------------------

The Drum by John Scott (1731 – 1783)

I hate that drum's discordant sound, Parading round, and round, and round: To thoughtless youth it pleasure yields, And lures from cities and from fields, To sell their liberty for charms Of tawdry lace and glitt'ring arms; And when Ambition's voice commands, To fight and fall in foreign lands.

I hate that drum's discordant sound, Parading round, and round, and round: To me it talks of ravaged plains, And burning towns and ruin'd swains, And mangled limbs, and dying groans, And widow's tears, and orphans moans, And all that Misery's hand bestows, To fill a catalogue of woes.

Reading © Classic Poetry Aloud, 2007.