1 Beat! beat! drums! -- blow! bugles! blow! .
2 Through the windows -- through doors -- burst like a ruthless force, .
3 Into the solemn church, and scatter the congregation, .
4 Into the school where the scholar is studying; .
5 Leave not the bridegroom quiet -- no happiness must he have now with his bride, .
6 Nor the peaceful farmer any peace, ploughing his field or gathering his grain, .
7 So fierce you whirr and pound you drums -- so shrill you bugles blow. .
8 Beat! beat! drums! -- blow! bugles! blow! .
9 Over the traffic of cities -- over the rumble of wheels in the streets; .
10 Are beds prepared for sleepers at night in the houses? no sleepers must sleep in those beds, .
11 No bargainers' bargains by day -- no brokers or speculators -- would they continue? .
12 Would the talkers be talking? would the singer attempt to sing? .
13 Would the lawyer rise in the court to state his case before the judge? .
14 Then rattle quicker, heavier drums -- you bugles wilder blow. .
15 Beat! beat! drums! -- blow! bugles! blow! .
16 Make no parley -- stop for no expostulation, .
17 Mind not the timid -- mind not the weeper or prayer, .
18 Mind not the old man beseeching the young man, .
19 Let not the child's voice be heard, nor the mother's entreaties, .
20 Make even the trestles to shake the dead where they lie awaiting the hearses, .
21 So strong you thump O terrible drums -- so loud you bugles blow.
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This poem uses an instrument to ask a question. The question is will people stop if something comes in their path. Will people stop doing what they are supposed to. .
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I Saw in Louisiana a Live Oak Growing.
1 I saw in Louisiana a live-oak growing, .
2 All alone stood it and the moss hung down from the branches, .
3 Without any companion it grew there uttering joyous leaves of dark green, .
4 And its look, rude, unbending, lusty, made me think of myself, .
5 But I wonder'd how it could utter joyous leaves standing alone there without its friend near, for I knew I could not, .
