 | The Collected Poems of T. W. H. Crosland |  |
104
Steel-True and Blade-Straight
I
Steel-true and blade-straight—There's your man! And soon or late
He is England—all of her;
All the Blood that makes her fair,
All the Soul that makes her great,
Steel-true and blade-straight.
II
Steel-true and blade-straight—Neither puffed out, nor elate,
Neither glad, nor sad, nor sorry,
Seeking neither grace nor glory,
Steadfast at the battered gate—
Steel-true and blade-straight.
105
III
Steel-true and blade-straight—Let the pillars of the State
Wrangle to their hearts' content—
His to fend and thrust and feint,
His to watch and ward and wait,
Steel-true and blade-straight.
IV
Steel-true and blade-straight—While we bawl and perorate,
Big with “ifs” about our war—
He, the undoubting conqueror,
Knocks the nonsense out of Fate—
Steel-true and blade-straight.
| The Collected Poems of T. W. H. Crosland | |