Bold to meet adversity
And constant to withstand;
Heroes of battle, hospital, and tent,
Men chivalrous and never tired,
Women devoted, love-inspired,
Who nursed to life the loyal ones you lent;
And ye—whom all must praise—
Ye darker children of the nation!
Who with a patriot hope and proud elation,
Faced danger that the stoutest heart dismays;
And in the trench and on the mesa saw,
In memory, the men who fought with Shaw
For freedom, at the parting of the ways:
Thrice gallant souls! who in the van
Pressed forward, with one only plan—
One purpose, to prevail;
And 'neath the Mausers' burning hail
Sprang dauntless to the grave,
Your whiter comrades' threatened lives to save:
Who, stumbling, falling,—forward, onward still,—
Fought, step by step, up the dread hill,
Up to the crest where red the death-tide ran,—
Up to the high estate and dignities of Man!
Page:Poems, Volume 1, Coates, 1916.djvu/156
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134
MEMORIAL ODE
