Canada, and Other Poems/Union
For works with similar titles, see Union.
Union.
ABOVE the glamour of long-dead Romance Attired in gold and dress of every hue, The glitter was not all, for dead did strewThe war-torn fields of Italy and France.Stern Valor raised the sword and broke the lance By many an alien wall; and grasping threw From dying hand its weapon in the dewOf bloody strife. Yet wherefore not advanceThus bold and strong in love, my comrades, here On peaceful plains; and wherefore not unfold The flag not drenched as yet with battle-stainsAs proudly for its purity; and bear The glorious front of union, though the gold And blazonry of courts stir not our veins?