 | The White Pilgrim and Other Poems |  |
109
WAKE, ENGLAND, WAKE!
And thought we that his reign could cease?
And thought we that his day was done?
For that the gentle hand of Peace
Had loosed the War-God's fiery zone?
Wake, England, wake! let heart and hand be steady!
Still for thy motto take: Ready—aye ready!
And thought we that his day was done?
For that the gentle hand of Peace
Had loosed the War-God's fiery zone?
Wake, England, wake! let heart and hand be steady!
Still for thy motto take: Ready—aye ready!
A touch—a flash!—he breaks his chain,
And starts to new and awful birth,
To loose Hell's husbandmen amain,
And sow in blood the fallow earth.
And starts to new and awful birth,
To loose Hell's husbandmen amain,
And sow in blood the fallow earth.
This is no time for pride of pelf;
This is no time to sleep or save:
Britain, arise and arm thyself!
Peace has no home this side the grave.
Wake, England, wake! let heart and hand be steady!
Still for thy motto take: Ready—aye ready!
This is no time to sleep or save:
Britain, arise and arm thyself!
Peace has no home this side the grave.
Wake, England, wake! let heart and hand be steady!
Still for thy motto take: Ready—aye ready!
110
Men tell us that our arm is weak;
Men tell us that our blood is cold;
And that our hearts no longer speak
With the rich trumpet-note of old.
Men tell us that our blood is cold;
And that our hearts no longer speak
With the rich trumpet-note of old.
With threat and taunt, with scoff and sneer,
They gather round the lion's den,
And deem him all too deaf to hear
The growing tread of armèd men.
Wake, England wake! let heart and hand be steady!
Still for thy motto take: Ready—aye ready!
They gather round the lion's den,
And deem him all too deaf to hear
The growing tread of armèd men.
Wake, England wake! let heart and hand be steady!
Still for thy motto take: Ready—aye ready!
Above, around, and east and west,
The storm-clouds muster swift and dark;
Think we the flood of fire to breast,
Safe in our isle as in the ark?
The storm-clouds muster swift and dark;
Think we the flood of fire to breast,
Safe in our isle as in the ark?
The Prussian is at Paris' gates—
The Prussian dons the iron crown,
And marshals all the vassal States
That at his mailèd foot bow down.
The Prussian dons the iron crown,
And marshals all the vassal States
That at his mailèd foot bow down.
The Russian crouches for his spring;
Columbia rails in England's tongue,
And waits to pierce, with mortal sting,
The mighty loins from which she sprung.
Wake, England, wake! let heart and hand be steady!
Still for thy motto take: Ready—aye ready!
Columbia rails in England's tongue,
And waits to pierce, with mortal sting,
The mighty loins from which she sprung.
Wake, England, wake! let heart and hand be steady!
Still for thy motto take: Ready—aye ready!
111
Faint not nor fail, ye sons of those
Who were the bravest born of men:
Our nearest friends may be our foes
Ere Christmastide come round again.
Who were the bravest born of men:
Our nearest friends may be our foes
Ere Christmastide come round again.
Though praying yet for peace on earth,
Keep dry your powder while you can,
Forearmed to meet for home and hearth
Man's message of good-will to man.
Keep dry your powder while you can,
Forearmed to meet for home and hearth
Man's message of good-will to man.
Pray we that soon on every land,
The reign of all the saints may come;
But till its dawning, sword in hand
Await we that millennium.
Wake, England, wake! let heart and hand be steady!
Still for thy motto take: Ready—aye ready!
The reign of all the saints may come;
But till its dawning, sword in hand
Await we that millennium.
Wake, England, wake! let heart and hand be steady!
Still for thy motto take: Ready—aye ready!
February, 1871.
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