Page:Poems of the Great War - National Relief Fund.djvu/23

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19

What sons of mine have shunned thy words and
        races?
    Have I not reared for thee time and again
And bid go forth to share thy fierce embraces
    Sea-ducks, sea-wolves, sea-rovers, and sea-men?

Names that thou knowest—great hearts that thou
        holdest,
    Rocking them, rocking them in an endless
        wake—
Captains the world can match not with its boldest,
    Hawke, Howard, Grenville, Frobisher, Drake?

Nelson—the greatest of them all—the master
    Who swept across thee like a shooting star,
And, while the Earth stood veiled before disaster,
    Caught Death and slew him—there—at Tra-
        falgar?

Mother, they knew me then as thou didst know
        me;
    Then I cried, Peace, and every flag was furled:
But I am old, it seems, and they would show me
    That never more my peace shall bind the world.