William Pike Osborne
To mock the Grand Armada s might and dare the whole, wide world.
Such men as died when Grenville did upon a wreck- strewn sea,
Or followed Richard Lion-Heart in Christian chivalry, To fight in Holy Palestine ; such men as fought and fell In Balaclava s famous charge against a very hell.
O Hero Souls, the men that charged in Scarlett s famed
brigade, Were heroes, yet they never faced such murderous
fusillade As swept our ranks! Leonidas died dauntless and
unbowed, God-like in valour, yet he knew no deadly poison cloud.
O ye that sleep on Flanders Plain, we search the scrolls
of Time Where lettered in memorial gold, shine forth all deeds
sublime, And none are writ more bright than yours, our own
Beloved Dead, Before whose tomb in grief and pride your country
bows its head!
Alone, afar on Langemarck s field where desolation
swirled Through crowded, desperate days ye fought the Battle
of the World; Yea, where the Hunnish cohorts swarmed in rage and
fury blind, Lit with the flame of God ye fought the Fight of all
Mankind.
O ye whom we have loved and lost, that sleep on alien strand,
L
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