“The guns spell money's ultimate reason
In letters of lead on the spring hillside.
But the boy lying dead under the olive trees
Was too young and too silly
To have been notable to their important eye.
He was a better target for a kiss.”

— Stephen Spender

"Ultima Ratio Regum"
The Still Centre (1939)

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Stephen Spender 76

English poet and man of letters 1909–1995

Stephen Spender (1909–1995) English poet and man of letters

"Ultima Ratio Regum"
The Still Centre (1939)
Context: Consider his life which was valueless
In terms of employment, hotel ledgers, news files.
Consider. One bullet in ten thousand kills a man.
Ask. Was so much expenditure justified
On the death of one so young and so silly
Lying under the olive tree, O world, O death?

“Too young for wife, too old for child, but the ripe age for comrade — and such a comrade, for there was a boy's gallantry in her eyes and something of a child's confident fearlessness.”

John Buchan (1875–1940) British politician

Source: Midwinter (1923), Ch. XVII

“Just once, I'd like to find a boy. And I like him and he likes me. And we have a laugh and the kissing's really good and there's no-one getting in the way of the laughing and the kissing. Is that too much to ask?”

Sarra Manning (1950) British writer

Source: Kiss and Make Up

“Under the olive trees, from the ground
Grows this flower, which is a wound.”

Stephen Spender (1909–1995) English poet and man of letters

"The Coward"
The Still Centre (1939)
Context: Under the olive trees, from the ground
Grows this flower, which is a wound.
It is easier to ignore
Than the heroes' sunset fire
Of death plunged in their willed desire
Raging with flags on the world's shore.