And he sees in a flash his native hut,
Where the foeman's banners float—
And he's German again, or French, or Slav
At thrill of a bugle note!
Where the foeman's banners float—
And he's German again, or French, or Slav
At thrill of a bugle note!
For a man may wander across the world
And dwell 'neath a stranger's sky,
But the call of the blood will cleave all space
When it comes in a battle cry;
And the nest he built and the brood he reared
Are left to an alien flag
While he turns him home, with his soul aflame,
To die for a silken rag.
And dwell 'neath a stranger's sky,
But the call of the blood will cleave all space
When it comes in a battle cry;
And the nest he built and the brood he reared
Are left to an alien flag
While he turns him home, with his soul aflame,
To die for a silken rag.
INTERNED
BY cable held and promise bound
Far from the vasty deep,
We who were free as sea birds fly
Our sullen vigil keep.
Unplumed of smoke our funnels rust,
No pulse our engines know,
And keels that joyed to cut the wave
Rock 1dly to and fro.
Far from the vasty deep,
We who were free as sea birds fly
Our sullen vigil keep.
Unplumed of smoke our funnels rust,
No pulse our engines know,
And keels that joyed to cut the wave
Rock 1dly to and fro.
Outside, beyond the harbor's mouth,
The surge of war goes by,
But here within this prison-hold
Only the curlews cry.
The surge of war goes by,
But here within this prison-hold
Only the curlews cry.
99