For England :: :: University of Virginia Library

I greet you and am with you, Friends of Peace,
Of Equity, of Freedom. 'Tis an hour
Inhospitable to Reason's tempering word;
Yet, being brave, being women, you will speak
The thought that must be spoken, without fear.
The Voice of Chivalry grows faint; the note
Of Patriotism is well-nigh overborne.

For what is Patriotism but noble care
For our own country's honour in mens' eyes,
And zeal for the just glory of her arms?
If it be aught but this we'll none of it.
Keep then that zeal, that noble care alive;
Keep then from altogether perishing
The light of the authentic patriot flame:
Even as another remnant kept it clear,
When in an England errant from herself
A dull King and his purblind counsellors
Goaded the New World to fling off the Old.
And in this hour when England half forgets
That Empire dies not starved but surfeited,
Warn her that tho' she 'whelm a kindred race,

A valiant people, stubborn-built as we,
Yet shall they gnarr hereafter at her heel,
Secretly unsubdued though beaten down;
Too near ourselves to be in spirit o'ercome
But on fierce memories fed, and evermore
Upborne in heart by the saluting world.