DUTY.

Give gladly, you rich—'tis no more than you owe— For the weal of your Country, your wealth's overflow! Even I that am poor am performing my part; I am giving my brain, I am giving my heart.

WILLIAM WATSON

POEMS OF THE GREAT WAR

PUBLISHED ON BEHALF OF THE PRINCE OF WALES'S NATIONAL RELIEF FUND FOURTH EDITION LONDON CHATTO & WINDUS 1914

[Pg 4]

NOTE

This collection of War Poems, the net profits from which will be given to the Prince of Wales's Fund, represents the free offering of English poets to the cause of National Relief.

Most of the poems have appeared recently in the Press. Mr. Robert Bridges' opening contribution, Mr. Henry Newbolt's, Mr. Maurice Hewlett's, Mr. R. E. Vernède's, Mr. Binyon's, were all printed in the Times during the few days immediately following the declaration of war, as also was the sonnet by Mr. William Watson. Sir Owen Seaman's poem came out originally in Punch, "The Hour" in the Daily Telegraph, "The United Front" in the Daily Mail. "We Willed it Not" is reprinted from the Sphere, "Duty" and "Commandeered" from the Westminster Gazette, and the poems by Mr. Gilbert and Mr. Cecil Chesterton from the New Witness. The New Weekly published the verses by Mr. John Freeman, and the Daily Chronicle those by Mr. Harold Begbie. The two hymns which close the collection are reprinted, by special permission of their authors, from volumes previously published.

The publishers desire also to record their thanks to Mr. William Nicholson for the design which appears on the cover.

[Pg 5]

"WAKE UP, ENGLAND"

Thou careless, awake! Thou peacemaker, fight! Stand, England, for honour, And God guard the Right! Thy mirth lay aside, Thy cavil and play: The foe is upon thee, And grave is the day. The monarch Ambition Hath harnessed his slaves; But the folk of the Ocean Are free as the waves. For Peace thou art armed Thy Freedom to hold: Thy Courage as iron, Thy Good-faith as gold. Through Fire, Air, and Water Thy trial must be: But they that love life best [Pg 8]Die gladly for thee. The Love of their mothers Is strong to command; The fame of their fathers Is might to their hand. Much suffering shall cleanse thee; But thou through the flood Shalt win to Salvation, To Beauty through blood.

Up, careless, awake! Ye peacemakers, fight! England stands for Honour: God defend the Right!

ROBERT BRIDGES, Poet Laureate

[Pg 9]

THE VIGIL

England! where the sacred flame Burns before the inmost shrine, Where the lips that love thy name Consecrate their hopes and thine, Where the banners of thy dead Weave their shadows overhead, Watch beside thine arms to-night, Pray that God defend the Right. Think that when to-morrow comes War shall claim command of all, Thou must hear the roll of drums, Thou must hear the trumpet's call. Now before they silence ruth, Commune with the voice of truth; England! on thy knees to-night Pray that God defend the Right. Single-hearted, unafraid, Hither all thy heroes came, On this altar's steps were laid [Pg 10]Gordon's life and Outram's fame. England! if thy will be yet By their great example set, Here beside thine arms to-night Pray that God defend the Right. So shalt thou when morning comes Rise to conquer or to fall, Joyful hear the rolling drums, Joyful hear the trumpet's call. Then let memory tell thy heart; "England! what thou wert, thou art!" Gird thee with thine ancient might, Forth! and God defend the Right!

HENRY NEWBOLT

[Pg 11]

TO THE TROUBLER OF THE WORLD

At last we know you, War-lord. You, that flung The gauntlet down, fling down the mask you wore, Publish your heart, and let its pent hate pour, You that had God for ever on your tongue. We are old in war, and if in guile we are young, Young also is the spirit that evermore Burns in our bosom ev'n as heretofore, Nor are these thews unbraced, these nerves unstrung. We do not with God's name make wanton play; We are not on such easy terms with Heaven; But in Earth's hearing we can verily say, "Our hands are pure; for peace, for peace we have striven"; And not by Earth shall he be soon forgiven Who lit the fire accurst that flames to-day.

WILLIAM WATSON

[Pg 12]

TO ENGLAND: TO STRIKE QUICKLY

Fight, since thou must; strike quick and fierce, So when this tyrant for too long Hath shook the blood out of his ears He may have learned the price of wrong. Let him learn this, that the due grief Of his own vice he cannot ban By outrage of a highway thief; Let him remember the Corsican, Whom England only durst not dread By sea or shore, but faced alone, Nor stayed for pity of her dead Until the despot's day was done. Strike, England, quickly, make an end Of him who seeks a deal with thee. If he would bargain for thy friend, What would he trade for Liberty?

MAURICE HEWLETT

[Pg 13]

THE FOURTH OF AUGUST

Now in thy splendour go before us, Spirit of England, ardent-eyed! Enkindle this dear earth that bore us, In the hour of peril purified. The cares we hugged drop out of vision, Our hearts with deeper thoughts dilate. We step from days of sour division Into the grandeur of our fate. For us the glorious dead have striven; They battled that we might be free. We to that living cause are given, We arm for men that are to be. Among the nations nobliest chartered, England recalls her heritage. With her is that which is not bartered, Which force can neither quell nor cage. For her immortal stars are burning, With her, the hope that's never done, The seed that's in the Spring's returning, [Pg 14]The very flower that seeks the sun. We fight the fraud that feeds desire on Lies, in a lust to enslave or kill, The barren creed of blood and iron, Vampire of Europe's wasted will. Endure, O Earth! and thou, awaken, Purged by this dreadful winnowing-fan, O wronged, untameable, unshaken Soul of divinely suffering man!

LAURENCE BINYON

[Pg 15]

THE UNITED FRONT

I.

Thus only should it come, if come it must; Not with a riot of flags or a mob-born cry, But with a noble faith, a conscience high And pure and proud as heaven, wherein we trust, We who have fought for peace, have dared the thrust Of calumny for peace, and watched her die, Her scutcheons rent from sky to outraged sky By felon hands, and trampled into the dust. We fought for peace, and we have seen the law Cancelled, not once, nor twice, by felon hands, But shattered, again, again, and yet again. We fought for peace. Now, in God's name, we draw The sword, not with a riot of flags and bands, But silence, and a mustering of men.

II.

They challenge Truth. An Empire makes reply. One faith, one flag, one honour, and one might. From sea to sea, from height to war-worn height, [Pg 16]The old word rings out—to conquer, or to die. And we shall conquer. Though their eagles fly Through heaven, around this ancient isle unite Powers that were never vanquished in the fight, The unconquerable Powers that cannot lie. But they who challenge Truth, Law, Justice, all The bases on which God and man stand sure Throughout all ages, fools!—they thought us torn So far with discord that the blow might fall Unanswered; and, while all those Powers endure, This is our answer: Unity and Scorn.

III.

We trust not in the multitude of an host. Nations that greatly builded, greatly stand. In those dark hours, the Splendour of a Hand Has moved behind the darkness, till that coast Where hate and faction seemed to triumph most Reveals itself—a buckler and a brand, Our rough-hewn work, shining o'er sea and land, [Pg 17]But shaped to nobler ends than man could boast. It is God's answer. Though, for many a year, This land forgot the faith that made her great, Now, as her fleets cast off the North Sea foam, Casting aside all faction and all fear, Thrice-armed in all the majesty of her fate, Britain remembers, and her sword strikes home.

ALFRED NOYES

[Pg 18]

ENGLAND TO THE SEA

Hearken, O Mother, hearken to thy daughter! Fain would I tell thee what men tell to me, Saying that henceforth no more on any water Shall I be first or great or loved or free, But that these others—so the tale is spoken— Who have not known thee all these centuries By fire and sword shall yet turn England broken Back from thy breast and beaten from thy seas, Me—whom thou barest where thy waves should guard me, Me—whom thou suckled'st on thy milk of foam, Me—whom thy kisses shaped what while they marred me, To whom thy storms are sweet and ring of home. "Behold," they cry, "she is grown soft and strengthless, All her proud memories changed to fear and fret." Say, thou, who hast watched through ages that are lengthless, [Pg 19]Whom have I feared, and when did I forget? What sons of mine have shunned thy whorls and races? Have I not reared for thee time and again And bid go forth to share thy fierce embraces Sea-ducks, sea-wolves, sea-rovers, and sea-men? Names that thou knowest—great hearts that thou holdest, Rocking them, rocking them in an endless wake—

Captains the world can match not with its boldest, Hawke, Howard, Grenville, Frobisher, Drake? Nelson—the greatest of them all—the master Who swept across thee like a shooting star, And, while the Earth stood veiled before disaster, Caught Death and slew him—there—at Trafalgar? Mother, they knew me then as thou didst know me; Then I cried, Peace, and every flag was furled: But I am old, it seems, and they would show me [Pg 20]That never more my peace shall bind the world. Wherefore, O Sea, I, standing thus before thee, Stretch forth my hands unto thy surge and say: "When they come forth who seek this empire o'er thee, And I go forth to meet them—on that day "God grant to us the old Armada weather, The winds that rip, the heavens that stoop and lour— Not till the Sea and England sink together, Shall they be masters! Let them boast that hour!"

R. E. VERNÈDE

[Pg 21]