Punch/Volume 147/Issue 3822/Burgomaster Max
Belgian soldiers, martial heroes, in a world of fire and flame,
By their fortitude and daring have achieved immortal fame,
But there's one, a more civilian, who a vates sacer lacks—
Burgomaster Max!
Therefore let a sorry rhymer offer you his humble meed,
And salute your priceless service to your country in her need,
All unarmed yet undefeated, never turning in your tracks—
Burgomaster Max!
Athanasius contra mundum—you remind us of the tag,
You whose fearless manifestoes never brooked the German gag;
Bucking up your fellow-townsmen when their hearts were weak as wax—
Burgomaster Max!
Now, alas! we read the foemen have decided to deport
And intern you for a season in some dismal German fort,
For your presence was distasteful to the Hun who sacks and "hacks"—
Burgomaster Max!
Yet, whatever fate befalls you, as the ages onward roll
You will live in deathless lustre on your country's Golden Roll,
For you faced the German bullies with the stiffest of stiff backs—
Burgomaster Max!