An errant spark

“Vices” may be “glaring as the noon-day sun,” but poems can go mighty dark. Hidden since 1811, Poetical Essay by a young Percy Bysshe Shelley appears in 2006.

Millions to fight compell’d, to fight or die
In mangled heaps on War’s red altar lie . . .
When legal murders swell the lists of pride;
When glory’s views the titled idiot guide.