A chant of love for England, and other poems

Chapter 2: In Memoriam

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About This Book

A collection of poems ranging from patriotic and wartime tributes to intimate lyrics, ballads, and sonnets. Several pieces honor soldiers and examine sacrifice, grief, and courage; narrative poems recall naval engagements and coastal life, sometimes with dramatic rescues and moral reckonings. Shorter lyrics and flower fancies evoke nature, music, and memory, while portraits and character sketches capture theatrical and historical personae. The volume alternates public declamation with domestic tenderness, using formal verse, melodic diction, and varied moods to explore duty, loss, beauty, and the persistence of cultural and personal ideals.

In Memoriam

P. M. and A. C. D.

KILLED IN ACTION, 1915

Let Pride with Grief go hand in hand:

They join the hallowed hosts who died

In battle for their lovely land;

With light about their brows they ride.

Young hearts and hot, gray heads and wise,

Good knights of all the years foregone,

Faith in their England in their eyes,

Still ride they on, still ride they on!

By altars old their banners fade

Beneath dear spires; their names are set

In minster aisle, in yew-tree shade;

Their memories fight for England yet.

Let Pride with Grief go hand in hand,

Sad Love with Patience, side by side;

In battle for their lovely land

Not vainly England’s sons have died!

And well may pride this hour befit;

For not since England’s days began

More fiery-clear the word was writ:

Who dies for England, dies for Man!