Apostrophe To Man

By Edna St. Vincent Millay

(On reflecting that the world

is ready to go to war again)

Detestable race, continue to expunge yourself, die out.

Breed faster, crowd, encroach, sing hymns, build

bombing airplanes;

Make speeches, unveil statues, issue bonds, parade;

Convert again into explosives the bewildered ammonia

and the distracted cellulose;

Convert again into putrescent matter drawing flies

The hopeful bodies of the young; exhort,

Pray, pull long faces, be earnest,

be all but overcome, be photographed;

Confer, perfect your formulae, commercialize

Bacteria harmful to human tissue,

Put death on the market;

Breed, crowd, encroach,

expand, expunge yourself, die out,

Homo called sapiens.