INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 715
"That being rich in the open, we should be strong in the
close "And the Gods would sell us a cunning for the day that we
met our foes. "This was the work of wizards, but not with our foe they
bide, "In our own camp we took them, and their names are Sloth
and Pride. "Our pride was before the battle: our sloth ere we lifted
spear, " But hid in the heart of the people as the fever hides in the
mere,
"Waiting only the war-game, the heat of the strife to rise "As the ague fumes round Oxeney when the rotting reed-bed
dries. "But now we are purged of that fever cleansed by the
letting of blood,
"Something leaner of body something keener of mood. "And the men new-freed from the levies return to the fields
again,
"Matching a hundred battles, cottar and lord and thane. "And they talk loud in the temples where the ancient war- gods are. "They thumb and mock and belittle the holy harness of
war. "They jest at the sacred chariots, the robes and the gilded
staff. "These things fill them with laughter, they lean on their
spears and laugh. "The men grown old in the war-game, hither and thither they
range "And scorn and laughter together are sire and dam of
change; "And change may be good or evil but we know not what it
will bring "Therefore our King must teach us. That is thy task, O
King!"