 | Plays and poems |  |
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[VI. Once more old England's banner on the gale]
Once more old England's banner on the galeFlames like the comet in our western sky;
Beneath its fiery glare are lifted high
Long lines of steel, and clouds of snowy sail.
O, ye who bear it through the eastern vale,
Think how it shone in Cœur de Lion's eye!
Ye who behold it on the waters fly,
Think how it answered Nelson's dauntless hail!
From the Crusader to the Sailor turn,
And mark the lines of glory that appear
Stretched through your chronicles, starred far and near
With names heroical—dread names that burn,
Like deathless lamps, above each funeral urn,
To light you onward in their grand career.
1854.
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