BULLETS AND BLOOD

BULLETS and blood are the theme I sing,
The will of a nation, the whim of a king,
The fate of empires, and the shock
Of Wars red waves upon Deaths dark rock.
Blood and bullets
Bullets and blood –
War never did the world any good.
When kings get drunk with the wine of power,
And flout each other, in evil hour
Some royal robe receiveth a stain,
And the peoples blood must cleanse it again.
Blood and bullets
Bullets and blood ---
War never did the world any good.
When Cabinet ministers kick up a row
Twixt nation and nation, they tell you how
To quell the quarrel theres nothing so good
As shooting of bullets and shedding of blood.
Blood and bullets
Bullets and blood ---
War never did the world any good.
How can a people ever grow wise,
Whose highest might in the musket lies ---
Whose faith and freedom, God, and all,
In the iron heart of the cannon ball?
Bay’nets and bullets
Bullets and blood ---
Since war never did the world any good.
But man is martial. Well, that we grant.
Let him vanquish vice, ‘tis the worlds great want;
Let him prove his utmost prowess and skill,
Blood and bullets
Bullets and blood ---
War never did the world any good.
But men will differ, do what you can;
Then reason it out between man and man;
For after the bloodiest battle is past,
Appeal must be made to reason at last ---
Not blood and bullets
Bullets and blood,
For war never did the world any good.
But navies are needed for self-defence,
And armies are useful in spite of expense.
Oh! safety must be exceedingly dear,
Which costeth so many millions a year.
Bay’nets and bullets,
Bullets and blood ---
War never did the world any good.
The cruellest king that ever held sway,
Since Adam andEve in Eden lay
The keenest curse that clings to the sod,
The ruin of man and the wrath of God,
Are bay’nets and bullets,
Bullets >and blood,
And war, which worketh the world no good.

Title:Bullets and Blood

Author:W. Billington

Publication:The Blackburn Times

Published in:Blackburn

Date:October 18th 1862

Keywords:morality, song, war

Commentary

This pacifist poem by local poet William Billington is very general in its condemnation of war. Indeed, in its use of the figure of the warlike ‘king’ it might be seen to deliberately avoid commentary on the civil war in the American republic. However, it is sure to include this conflict in its condemnation, and might also be a reference to underlying rumours, still apparent at this stage of the conflict, that Britain might be pulled into the American war. Typical of Billington is the reference in the penultimate stanza to what President Dwight Eisenhower (almost exactly a hundred years later) would term the ‘military-industrial complex’, suggesting that the amount of money spent on defence always ends up justifying military activity. – SR