Chapter I: Front Matter

POEMS OF THE GREAT WAR

_DUTY._

_Give gladly, you rich--'tis no more than you owe--
For the weal of your Country, your wealth's overflow!
Even I that am poor am performing my part;
I am giving my brain, I am giving my heart._

_WILLIAM WATSON_

POEMS OF THE
GREAT WAR

PUBLISHED ON BEHALF OF THE
PRINCE OF WALES'S NATIONAL
RELIEF FUND

FOURTH EDITION

LONDON
CHATTO & WINDUS
1914

NOTE

This collection of War Poems, the net profits from which will be given to the Prince of Wales's Fund, represents the free offering of English poets to the cause of National Relief.

Most of the poems have appeared recently in the Press. Mr. Robert Bridges' opening contribution, Mr. Henry Newbolt's, Mr. Maurice Hewlett's, Mr. R. E. Vernede's, Mr. Binyon's, were all printed in the _Times_ during the few days immediately following the declaration of war, as also was the sonnet by Mr. William Watson. Sir Owen Seaman's poem came out originally in _Punch_, "The Hour" in the _Daily Telegraph_, "The United Front" in the _Daily Mail_. "We Willed it Not" is reprinted from the _Sphere_, "Duty" and "Commandeered" from the _Westminster Gazette_, and the poems by Mr. Gilbert and Mr. Cecil Chesterton from the _New Witness_. The _New Weekly_ published the verses by Mr. John Freeman, and the _Daily Chronicle_ those by Mr. Harold Begbie. The two hymns which close the collection are reprinted, by special permission of their authors, from volumes previously published.

The publishers desire also to record their thanks to Mr. William Nicholson for the design which appears on the cover.

CONTENTS

PAGE

"Wake up, England" _Robert Bridges_ 7

The Vigil _Henry Newbolt_ 9

To the Troubler of the World _William Watson_ 11

To England: To Strike Quickly _Maurice Hewlett_ 12

The Fourth of August _Laurence Binyon_ 13

The United Front _Alfred Noyes_ 15

England to the Sea _R. E. Vernede_ 18

The Hour _J. B. Fagan_ 21

The Wife of Flanders _G. K. Chesterton_ 23

The Stars in their Courses _John Freeman_ 25

Commandeered _L. G. Moberly_ 29

The Man who Keeps his Head _Harold Begbie_ 30

France _Cecil Chesterton_ 32

We Willed it Not _John Drinkwater_ 33

Pro Patria _Owen Seaman_ 35

Hymn before Action _Rudyard Kipling_ 37

Hymn in War Time _Robert Bridges_ 39

"WAKE UP, ENGLAND"

Thou careless, awake!
Thou peacemaker, fight!
Stand, England, for honour,
And God guard the Right!

Thy mirth lay aside,
Thy cavil and play:
The foe is upon thee,
And grave is the day.

The monarch Ambition
Hath harnessed his slaves;
But the folk of the Ocean
Are free as the waves.

For Peace thou art armed
Thy Freedom to hold:
Thy Courage as iron,
Thy Good-faith as gold.

Through Fire, Air, and Water
Thy trial must be:
But they that love life best
Die gladly for thee.

The Love of their mothers
Is strong to command;
The fame of their fathers
Is might to their hand.

Much suffering shall cleanse thee;
But thou through the flood
Shalt win to Salvation,
To Beauty through blood.

* * * * *

Up, careless, awake!
Ye peacemakers, fight!
ENGLAND STANDS FOR HONOUR:
GOD DEFEND THE RIGHT!

ROBERT BRIDGES,
_Poet Laureate_

THE VIGIL

England! where the sacred flame
Burns before the inmost shrine,
Where the lips that love thy name
Consecrate their hopes and thine,
Where the banners of thy dead
Weave their shadows overhead,
Watch beside thine arms to-night,
Pray that God defend the Right.

Think that when to-morrow comes
War shall claim command of all,
Thou must hear the roll of drums,
Thou must hear the trumpet's call.
Now before they silence ruth,
Commune with the voice of truth;
England! on thy knees to-night
Pray that God defend the Right.

Single-hearted, unafraid,
Hither all thy heroes came,
On this altar's steps were laid
Gordon's life and Outram's fame.
England! if thy will be yet
By their great example set,
Here beside thine arms to-night
Pray that God defend the Right.

So shalt thou when morning comes
Rise to conquer or to fall,
Joyful hear the rolling drums,
Joyful hear the trumpet's call.
Then let memory tell thy heart;
"_England! what thou wert, thou art!_"
Gird thee with thine ancient might,
Forth! and God defend the Right!

HENRY NEWBOLT

TO THE TROUBLER OF THE WORLD

At last we know you, War-lord. You, that flung
The gauntlet down, fling down the mask you wore,
Publish your heart, and let its pent hate pour,
You that had God for ever on your tongue.
We are old in war, and if in guile we are young,
Young also is the spirit that evermore
Burns in our bosom ev'n as heretofore,
Nor are these thews unbraced, these nerves unstrung.
We do not with God's name make wanton play;
We are not on such easy terms with Heaven;
But in Earth's hearing we can verily say,
"Our hands are pure; for peace, for peace we have striven";
And not by Earth shall he be soon forgiven
Who lit the fire accurst that flames to-day.

WILLIAM WATSON

TO ENGLAND: TO STRIKE QUICKLY

Fight, since thou must; strike quick and fierce,
So when this tyrant for too long
Hath shook the blood out of his ears
He may have learned the price of wrong.

Let him learn this, that the due grief
Of his own vice he cannot ban
By outrage of a highway thief;
Let him remember the Corsican,

Whom England only durst not dread
By sea or shore, but faced alone,
Nor stayed for pity of her dead
Until the despot's day was done.

Strike, England, quickly, make an end
Of him who seeks a deal with thee.
If he would bargain for thy friend,
What would he trade for Liberty?

MAURICE HEWLETT

THE FOURTH OF AUGUST

Now in thy splendour go before us,
Spirit of England, ardent-eyed!
Enkindle this dear earth that bore us,
In the hour of peril purified.

The cares we hugged drop out of vision,
Our hearts with deeper thoughts dilate.
We step from days of sour division
Into the grandeur of our fate.

For us the glorious dead have striven;
They battled that we might be free.
We to that living cause are given,
We arm for men that are to be.

Among the nations nobliest chartered,
England recalls her heritage.
With her is that which is not bartered,
Which force can neither quell nor cage.

For her immortal stars are burning,
With her, the hope that's never done,
The seed that's in the Spring's returning,
The very flower that seeks the sun.

We fight the fraud that feeds desire on
Lies, in a lust to enslave or kill,
The barren creed of blood and iron,
Vampire of Europe's wasted will.

Endure, O Earth! and thou, awaken,
Purged by this dreadful winnowing-fan,
O wronged, untameable, unshaken
Soul of divinely suffering man!

LAURENCE BINYON

THE UNITED FRONT