THE LAST SAMURAI

 The Samurai are gone: the last one killed—
 Good riddance I, a pacifist, would say,
 Remembering all the blood their swords have spilled
 Despite the fabled glory of their Way.

 How can a path of violence be praised,
 No matter all the discipline it shows?
 There’s something in that temperament that’s crazed,
 And it’s a road humanity must close.

 Though honor, glory, valor were esteemed
 In cultures we now reckon primitive,
 From such pursuits our race must be redeemed
 And learn not how to die but how to live.

      The art of war recedes; the arts of peace
      Prevail, while love and harmony increase.

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