Page:Poems of the Great War - Cunliffe.djvu/250

 ��JOHN SANDES

��Beats the eager drummer harder, And methinks the bronze can hear,

In those eyes a flash of ardor ! On that cheek a noble tear !

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��Dauntless Captain, did'st thou ever.

With thy sailor-eyes of gray Searching out from thy endeavor

That sequestered flower-starred bay, Dream that some day those who love thee

Here would stake their all of worth. For the flag that waved above thee

And the land that gave thee birth ?

And the dauntless Captain listens :

Ah, if only he could speak ! But a vagrant raindrop glistens

On that scorched and blistered cheek, And the faith that does not falter

Still may hear his whisper low :
 * 'Son, this new land doth not alter

Britain's breed of long ago."

— John Sandes.

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