William Pike Osborne
Maple trees will be planted at Langemarck to commemorate the gallant stand of the Canadians.
ON Flanders Plain in summer-time the blood-red poppy waves : More brightly now its torch is blown above Canadian
graves. On Flanders Plain when guns are hushed, pledge of our
mindful grief
And emblem of the land they loved, shall flame the Maple Leaf.
O Hero Souls, Beloved Dead, yours was the Spartan
mould Wherein were shaped those valiant men that fought in
days of old: Such men as sailed the Argo forth to win the Golden
Fleece, As gave to Rome her ancient name, her Glory unto
Greece !
O Hero Souls, twas men like you who smile at death
and fate That beat the proud Etruscans down before the Roman
gate : That stood in strait Thermopylae with thrice a hundred
spears, And, holding back the Persian hordes, provoked the
tyrant s tears !
O Hero Souls, neath Flanders Plain, of spirit such as
this Were those who sped the triremes on at sea-born
Salamis ; Were these that died wi^h Winkelried or Drake s wild
sails unfurled
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