The Bonfire

...But if you shrink from being scared,
What would you say to war if it should come?
That's what reasons I should like to know -
If you can comfort me by any answer."

"Oh but war's not for children - it's for men"

"Now we are digging almost down to China.
My dears, my dears, you thought that - we all thought it.
So your mistake was ours. Haven't you heard, though,
About the ships where war has found them out
At sea, about the towns where war has come
Through opening clouds at night with droning speed
Further o'erhead than all but stars and angels,-
And the children in the ships and in the towns?
Haven't you heard what we have lived to learn?
Nothing so new - something we had forgotten:
War is for everyone, for children too.
I wasn't going to tell you and I mustn't.
The best way is to come up the hill with me
And have our fire and laugh and be afraid.

(From The Bonfire, by Robert Frost)