No More Learning

_ The same! the same!

_Slau. _ He came by stealth, and unlocked my
den,
And I have drunk the blood since then
Of thrice three hundred thousand men.

_Both. _ Who bade you do't?

_Slau. _ The same! the same!
Letters four do form his name.
He let me loose, and cried Halloo!
To him alone the praise is due.

_Fam. _ Thanks, sister, thanks! the men have bled,
Their wives and their children faint for bread.
I stood in a swampy field of battle;
With bones and skulls I made a rattle,
To frighten the wolf and carrion-crow
And the homeless dog--but they would not go.
So off I flew: for how could I bear
To see them gorge their dainty fare?
I heard a groan and a peevish squall,
And through the chink of a cottage-wall--
Can you guess what I saw there?

_Both_. Whisper it, sister! in our ear.

_Fam_. A baby beat its dying mother:
I had starved the one and was starving the other!

_Both_. Who bade you do't?

_Fam_. The same! the same!
Letters four do form his name.
He let me loose, and cried Halloo!
To him alone the praise is due.