Page:Poems of the Great War - National Relief Fund.djvu/22



EARKEN, O Mother, hearken to thy daughter! Fain would I tell thee what men tell to me, Saying that henceforth no more on any water Shall I be first or great or loved or free,

But that these others—so the tale is spoken— Who have not known thee all these centuries By fire and sword shall yet turn England broken Back from thy breast and beaten from thy seas,

Me—whom thou barest where they waves should guard me, Me—whom thou suckled'st on thy milk of foam, Me—whom thy kisses shaped what while they marred me, To whom thy storms are sweet and ring of       home.

"Behold," they cry, "she is grown soft and         strengthless,    All her proud memories changed to fear and        fret." Say, thou, who hast watched through ages that are lengthless, Whom have I feared, and when did I forget?