He led me where in ghostly files
The dead slept with their toys.
Miles, miles, and never-ending miles,
Along the valley's mournful aisles,
The voiceless, vague, misshapen piles
Of men and golden boys!
He led me up the gory hill
By wood and sodden heath.
Ravage! And faces, lone and chill,
In the murmuring wash of the willow-rill!
Slaughter! And voices, begging shrill
The merciful grace of death.
A waning moon broke, sickly pale,
Through the muddy fog's disguising;
And over the breadth of the ghastly vale
The battle-wake like a steamer's trail,
And a heaving as of waves in a gale,
Rising and falling and rising!
And out of the air, and up from the plain,
The ancient battle-story!—
Of stricken love and laughter slain,
And hearts beneath the hoofs of pain—
But not a breath of human gain,
And not a word of glory.
MAKERS OF MADNESS
CHARACTERS
| In the Capital of Iberia: |
| the king |
| the prime minister |
| the minister of war |
| the chief of staff |
| a secretary |
| officers |
| In the Capital of the Republic: |
| grosvenor, a contractor |
| conroy, a manufacturer of guns |
| pollen, owner of a chain of newspapers |
| senator taney |
| senator harradan |
| representative maynard |
| a general in the army |
| a captain |
| crowd |
| page |
In costuming this play, it is essential that the uniforms of the Iberian officers in the first scene should not be conspicuously copied after those of any of the armies of Europe. A compromise, grotesque to the expert, would be better here than a misleading realism.