In The Machine Age, she chose to attack states
Who glamorized nationalism and military might.
As she wrote, “I wanted to express the thought
Of war that was burning in my soul.” Debate
Swirled wildly, with praise, critique, translations and alarm
When her ‘opus magnus’ hit, Lay Down Your Arms!
A study of war she made – not of who won –
The history of those who fought them, when it was done.
Lampooned by many a cartoonist, she made her name
Mean unrelenting perseverance, and her fame,
And her story synonymous with Peace, convincing critics.
Bolstered, she strode to new issues: women, anti-Semitics.
Lay Down Your Arms!, noted both Nobel and Tolstoy,
Became a seminal work of the 19th century.
June Edvenson 