Sestina: Altaforte

In this poem, the speaker is telling about how he loves to fight. He thinks it is more honorable to be fighting than to be wanting peace (which he calls "womanish"). It makes him happy when the ones who want peace are killed in battle. He feels that the battles should have all the power of a storm for killing peace ("when the tempest kills the earth's foul peace"). "The lightning from black heav'n flash crimson" is a refference to the swords that are covered in blood. The speaker feels that not even wine is better than a good kill in a battle ("there's no wine like the blood's crimson!"). He feels that those who call out for peace in the middle of a battle are just trying to save their own lives and don't deserve to live anyways ("May God damn forever all who cry 'Peace!' ").