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For it was here she stood, invincible,
And paid her life's blood for a rubbish-heap in Flanders....

VI

At Verdun they will have a banquet in the Citadel—
The white-mustached Colonel and his officers;
They will sit at table in the little room where speaks the banner of the legend: On ne passe pas!
And they will toast the tidings in a sparkling wine
Drawn from the deep cellars of Champagne—
And the dead houses on either side of the Meuse will smile from their gaping windows,
And the Hall of the Bishops where William of Prussia had planned his feast of victory,
Having invited his generals to meet him there,
Will echo with a ghostly laughter
Mocking down the ages....

VII

In Rheims there will be rejoicing.

The people will come out of their caves and listen to the wonderful stillness, like children listening to a fairy-tale;