Page:Poems of the Great War - Cunliffe.djvu/224

 198 ALFRED NOYES

Search for the foe in thine own soul, The sloth, the intellectual pride ;

The trivial jest that veils the goal For which our fathers lived and died ;

The lawless dreams, the cynic Art,

That rend thy nobler self apart.

Not far, not far into the night,

These level swords of light can pierce ;

Yet for her faith does England fight, Her faith in this our universe,

Believing Truth and Justice draw

From founts of everlasting law ;

The law that rules the stars, our stay.

Our compass through the world's wide sea.

The one sure light, the one sure way. The one firm base of Liberty ;

The one firm road that men have trod

Through Chaos to the throne of God.

��*o^

��Therefore a Power above the State, The unconquerable Power returns.

The fire, the fire that made her great Once more upon her altar burns.

Once more, redeemed and healed and whole.

She moves to the Eternal Goal.

— Alfred Noyes.

�� �