Page:Poems (1915) G K Chesterton.djvu/114



HE line breaks and the guns go under,

The lords and the lackeys ride the plain;

I draw deep breaths of the dawn and thunder,

And the whole of my heart grows young again.

For our Chiefs said "Done," and I did not deem it;

Our Seers said "Peace," and it was not peace;

Earth will grow worse till men redeem it,

And wars more evil, ere all wars cease.

But the old flags reel and the old drums rattle,

As once in my life they throbbed and reeled;

I have found my youth in the lost battle,

I have found my heart on the battlefield.

For we that fight till the world is free,

We are not easy in victory:

We have known each other too long, my brother,

And fought each other, the world and we.

And I dream of the days when work was scrappy,

And rare in our pockets the mark of the mint,

When we were angry and poor and happy,

And proud of seeing our names in print.

For so they conquered and so we scattered,

When the Devil rode and his dogs smelt gold,

And the peace of a harmless folk was shattered;

When I was twenty and odd years old.