WE were all one heart and one race | |
| When the Abbey trumpets blew. | |
| For a moment’s breathing-space | |
| We had forgotten you. | |
| Now you return to your honoured place | 5 |
| Panting to shame us anew. | |
| |
| We have walked with the Ages dead— | |
| With our Past alive and ablaze. | |
| And you bid us pawn our honour for bread, | |
| This day of all the days! | 10 |
| And you cannot wait till our guests are sped, | |
| Or last week’s wreath decays? | |
| |
| The light is still in our eyes | |
| Of Faith and Gentlehood, | |
| Of Service and Sacrifice; | 15 |
| And it does not match our mood, | |
| To turn so soon to your treacheries | |
| That starve our land of her food. | |
| |
| Our ears still carry the sound | |
| Of our once-Imperial seas, | 20 |
| Exultant after our King was crowned, | |
| Beneath the sun and the breeze. | |
| It is too early to have them bound | |
| Or sold at your decrees. | |
| |
| Wait till the memory goes, | 25 |
| Wait till the visions fade, | |
| We may betray in time, God knows, | |
| But we would not have it said, | |
| When you make report to our scornful foes, | |
| That we kissed as we betrayed! | 30 |
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