Page:Poems (1915) G K Chesterton.djvu/121

 Fear not these, they have made their bargain,

They have counted the cost of the last of raids,

They have staked their lives on the things that live not,

They have burnt their house for a fire that fades.

Five years ago and we might have feared them,

Been drubbed by the coward and taught by the dunce;

Truth may endure and be told and re-echoed,

But a lie can never be young but once.

Five years ago and we might have feared them;

Now, when they lift the laurelled brow,

There shall naught go up from our hosts assembled

But a laugh like thunder. We know them now.