Page:Poems of the Great War - Cunliffe.djvu/308

 282 WILLIAM WATSON

They guard thy maiden daughters From worse than death or pain ;

The men who ward the waters. The men who man the main.

When navies meet and wrestle,

And their vast arms strike home — Vessel with monstrous vessel

Matched on the flame-lit foam — What fleet returns in glory ?

What fleet makes haste to fly ? O Sea, that knowest our story.

Thou, thou canst best reply !

Then hail to all who gave us

Their might of arm and soul, Hot and athirst to save us.

To heal, and keep us whole ; Whether they serve where yonder

Far-burrowing trenches run. Or where the ocean thunder

Peals with the thundering gun.

— William Watson.

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