Fighting for Conquest

’Tis noble for to fight for home,
But some nations fight to plunder,
For conquest o’er the world to roam,
To tear peaceful lands asunder.

For to give wealth and a great name
To some aspiring commander,
Who wishes to acquire great fame
As a modern Alexander.

Statesmen and kings a war will wage,
And many thousands strew the plain,
Covered with gore in the carnage,
Where brave and noble men are slain.

Leaving their families to mourn,
Now who can soothe the ills of life,
To them they never shall return,
No one can now cheer the poor wife.

Or the sweet little orphans dear
Think of father and of mother,
Of sweetheart, sister and of brother,
Who oft will shed the fruitless tear.

Where this text comes from

First published in Poems of James McIntyre (1889). First located printing is this volume; an earlier periodical printing has not been established. [1]

Structure read from the source's markup; the words have not been compared against a page scan. Last checked 2026-08-20.

Taken from Standard Ebooks, standardebooks/james-mcintyre_poetry, poetry.xhtml. Rights: public domain (SE dedication; underlying text pre-1931).

Earlier sources (3)

This poem as JSON or plain text. Line anchors #L1–#L20.

Cite this poem

James McIntyre (1828?–1906). “Fighting for Conquest.” First published in Poems of James McIntyre (1889). Text: Poem Index, https://poemindex.org/james-mcintyre/fighting-for-conquest/. Append #L14 to cite line 14, or #L4-L9 for lines 4–9.

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