Stephen Cranes, poem "Do Not Weep, Maiden, for War is Kind" was thought provoking to me. The words war and kind being used in the same statement contrast to a point that they indeed fight with each other. "Little souls who thirst to fight. These men were born to drill and die." (Ll 7-8) I disagree with his words and perhaps that is what draws me more into his poem. Although the poem was written about the Civil War, it is applicable for today. As the mother of a son who has served two tours in Iraq, I do not believe soldiers thirst to fight. The thirst is in defending your country. Just as every person is born we shall all"surely die."

"A field were a thousand coorpses lie." (l. 11) How sad and terrible war is. Again Crane is usuing words to provoke thought. What reasoning could have been made to justify a war that leaves one thousand dead? He has created a war within the poem. His final casuality argument is, "Mother whose heart hung humble as a button On the bright splendid shroud of your son, Do not weep. War is kind. (Ll. 23-26) How can a mother not weep for the death of a child born of her flesh or not. The cry over spilled blood remains the same.

War is anything but kind.