The Years Between | Page 6

the seas,
tack for tack, and burst Through the doorways of new worlds, doubtful
which was first, Hand on hilt (rememberest thou?) ready for the blow--

Sure, whatever else we met, we should meet our foe.
Spurred or

balked at every stride by the other's strength, So we rode the ages down
and every ocean's length!
Where did you refrain from us or we refrain from you?
Ask the wave
that has not watched war between us two!
Others held us for a while,
but with weaker charms,
These we quitted at the call for each other's
arms.
Eager toward the known delight, equally we strove--
Each the
other's mystery, terror, need, and love
To each other's open court with
our proofs we came.
Where could we find honour else, or men to test
our claim? From each other's throat we wrenched--valour's last
reward-- That extorted word of praise gasped 'twixt lunge and guard. In
each other's cup we poured mingled blood and tears,
Brutal joys,
unmeasured hopes, intolerable fears--
All that soiled or salted life for
a thousand years.
Proved beyond the need of proof, matched in every
clime, O companion, we have lived greatly through all time!
Yoked in knowledge and remorse, now we come to rest,
Laughing at
old villainies that Time has turned to jest, Pardoning old necessities no
pardon can efface--
That undying sin we shared in Rouen
marketplace.
Now we watch the new years shape, wondering if they
hold Fiercer lightnings in their heart than we launched of old. Now we
hear new voices rise, question, boast or gird,
As we raged
(rememberest thou?) when our crowds were stirred, Now we count new
keels afloat, and new hosts on land,
Massed like ours (rememberest
thou?) when our strokes were planned. We were schooled for dear life's
sake, to know each other's blade What can blood and iron make more
than we have made?
We have learned by keenest use to know each
other's mind. What shall blood and iron loose that we cannot bind?

We who swept each other's coast, sacked each other's home, Since the
sword of Brennus clashed on the scales at Rome, Listen, count and
close again, wheeling girth to girth, In the linked and steadfast guard
set for peace on earth!
Broke to every known mischance, lifted over all
By the light sane joy
of life, the buckler of the Gaul; Furious in luxury, merciless in toil,


Terrible with strength renewed from a tireless soil;
Strictest judge of
her own worth, gentlest of man's mind, First to face the Truth and last
to leave old Truths behind-- France, beloved of every soul that loves or
serves its kind!
'FOR ALL WE HAVE AND ARE'
1914.
For all we have and are,
For all our children's fate,
Stand up and
take the war,
The Hun is at the gate!
Our world has passed away,

In wantonness o'erthrown.
There is nothing left to-day
But steel and
fire and stone!
Though all we knew depart,
The old Commandments stand:--
'In
courage keep your heart,
In strength lift up your hand.'
Once more we hear the word
That sickened earth of old:--
'No law
except the Sword
Unsheathed and uncontrolled.'
Once more it knits
mankind,
Once more the nations go
To meet and break and bind

A crazed and driven foe.
Comfort, content, delight,
The ages' slow-bought gain,
They
shrivelled in a night.
Only ourselves remain
To face the naked days

In silent fortitude,
Through perils and dismays
Renewed and
re-renewed.
Though all we made depart,
The old Commandments stand;--
'In
patience keep your heart,
In strength lift up your hand.'
No easy hope or lies
Shall bring us to our goal,
But iron sacrifice

Of body, will, and soul.
There is but one task for all--
One life for
each to give
Who stands if Freedom fall?
Who dies if England live?
A SONG IN STORM

Be well assured that on our side
The abiding oceans fight,
Though
headlong wind and heaping tide
Make us their sport to-night.
By
force of weather not of war
In jeopardy we steer,
Then welcome
Fate's discourtesy
Whereby it shall appear,
How in all time of our
distress,
And our deliverance too,
The game is more than the player
of the game,
And the ship is more than the crew.
Out of the mist into the mirk
The glimmering combers roll.
Almost
these mindless waters work
As though they had a soul--
Almost as
though they leagued to whelm
Our flag beneath their green
Then
welcome Fate's discourtesy
Whereby it shall be seen, etc.
Be well assured, though wave and wind
Have weightier blows in
store,
That we who keep the watch assigned
Must stand to it the
more;
And as our streaming bows rebuke
Each billow's baulked
career,
Sing, welcome Fate's discourtesy
Whereby it is made clear,
etc.
No matter though our deck be swept
And masts and timber crack--

We can make good all loss except
The loss of turning back.
So,
'twixt these Devils and our deep
Let courteous trumpets sound,
To
welcome Fate's discourtesy
Whereby it will be found, etc.
Be well assured, though in our power
Is nothing left to give
But
chance and place to meet the hour,
And leave to strive to live,
Till
these dissolve our Order holds,
Our Service binds us here.
Then
welcome