Page:The Five Nations.djvu/46

26 Bid men gather fuel for fire, the tar and the oil and the tow—

Flame we shall need, not smoke, in the dark if the riddled seabanks go.

Bid the ringers watch in the tower (who knows what the dawn shall prove?)

Each with his rope between his feet and the trembling bells above.

Now we can only wait till the day, wait and apportion our shame!

These are the dykes our fathers left, but we would not look to the same.

Time and again were we warned of the dykes, time and again we delayed:

Now, it may fall, we have slain our sons as our fathers we have betrayed.

Walking along the wreck of the dykes, watching the work of the seas,

These were the dykes our fathers made to our great profit and ease;