Page:Poems and ballads (IA poemsballads00swinrich).pdf/178

 While the shepherd sets wolves on his sheep And the emperor halters his kine, While Shame is a watchman asleep And Faith is a keeper of swine,

Let the wind shake our flag like a feather, Like the plumes of the foam of the sea! While three men hold together, The kingdoms are less by three.

All the world has its burdens to bear, From Cayenne to the Austrian whips; Forth, with the rain in our hair And the salt sweet foam in our lips;

In the teeth of the hard glad weather, In the blown wet face of the sea; While three men hold together, The kingdoms are less by three.