Page:Wessex poems and other verses (IA wessexpoemsother00hard).pdf/85

 "'O,' the old folks said, 'ye Preachers stern! O so-called Christian time! When will men's swords to ploughshares turn? When come the promised prime?' . ..

"—The clash of horse and man which that day began, Closed not as evening wore; And the morrow's armies, rear and van, Still mustered more and more.

"From the City towers the Confederate Powers Were eyed in glittering lines, And up from the vast a murmuring passed As from a wood of pines.

"'Tis well to cover a feeble skill By numbers! scoffèd He; 'But give me a third of their strength, I'd fill Half Hell with their soldiery!'