Analysis of Let not the drums of war resound but this song of peace and love

Let not the drums of war resound but this song of peace and love

Quietly winter walks the warmer paths
of summer hidden in the cold beyond;
peace is sought in all corners of the land
and time is here to rest and sing a song.

Of life, it must be when drums of war
resound in the halls of men, and earth
alone prolongs its shaking faith above
where God remains in ghostly wait.

Despair is not the claim of dying hearts
but a prayer to say when parting comes,
for those, we leave behind, still in arms,

to fight the battles we never fought,
to face the evils we thought we knew,
to meet a death we left them to meet.