Rosemary and Pansies/South Africa, 1899
SOUTH AFRICA, 1899
The brave must needs honour and love the brave,
Though they are ranked against themselves in fight,
And only cowards at those foemen rave
Who manfully do blow for blow requite:
Shame then on those who libel the brave men
Who fight for all that is to them most dear;
Even though, to our 'patriot's' enlightened ken,
They're worthy only of a Briton's sneer.
Theirs is to them a just and sacred cause,
Ours at the best is not so just or clear,
But that, however ably pleaded, flaws
Will in our strongest arguments appear:
Oh evil fate! to make us thus contend
Against a State which should be most our friend!
Though they are ranked against themselves in fight,
And only cowards at those foemen rave
Who manfully do blow for blow requite:
Shame then on those who libel the brave men
Who fight for all that is to them most dear;
Even though, to our 'patriot's' enlightened ken,
They're worthy only of a Briton's sneer.
Theirs is to them a just and sacred cause,
Ours at the best is not so just or clear,
But that, however ably pleaded, flaws
Will in our strongest arguments appear:
Oh evil fate! to make us thus contend
Against a State which should be most our friend!