For England Poems written during estrangement: By William Watson |
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| I. |
| II. |
| V. |
| V. |
| VII. |
| IX. |
| XI. | XI THE INEXORABLE LAW |
| XIII. |
| XIV. |
| XV. |
| XVI. |
| XVII. |
| XVIII. |
| XX. |
| XXI. |
| XXIII. |
| XXIV. |
 | For England |  |
36
XI
THE INEXORABLE LAW
We too shall pass, we too shall disappear,
Ev'n as the mighty nations that have waned
And perished. Not more surely are ordained
The crescence and the cadence of the year,
High-hearted June, October spent and sere,
Than this gray consummation. We have reigned
Augustly; let our part be so sustained
That Time, far hence, shall hold our memory dear!
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And conquering prow, this Empire swoln with spoils,
Yet served the human cause, yet strove for Man;
Hers was the purest greatness we record;
We whose ingathered sheaves her tilth foreran,
Whose peace comes of her tempests and her toils.”
| For England | |