The Soldier of Fortune
I have seen thy face in the foray, I have heard thy voice in the fray,
When the stars shrunk in the silence, and the wild midnights blew.
Men have worn their steel blades, seeking by night and day;
Selling their souls for the vain dreams—I have followed the true.
Frosts have dulled the scabbard, suns have furrowed the thong,
And the great winds of the north-east have steeled the vagrant eye.
So through the world I wander, haggard and fierce and strong,
Seeking the goal I see not, toiling I tell not why.
I have loved all good things, song and woman and wine,
The hearth’s red glow in the even, the gladsome face of a friend,
The suns and snows of the hill land, the sting of the winter’s brine,
Dawn and noon and the twilight, day and the daylight’s end.
I have ridden the old path, ridden it fierce and strong,
By camp and city and moorland and the grey face of the sea.
Wrath abides on my forehead but at my heart a song,
The ancient wayfaring ballad, the royal chant of the free.
For ever in cloud or in maytide Thy voice has been in my ear,
In the quivering mists of battle Thy face has shone like a star.
Never the steel ranks broke when the Lord sent forth His fear
But Thy hand has held my bridle and girt my soul for war.
I am broken and houseless, lost my clan and my name;
A stranger treads on my homelands, no heart remembereth me.—
But be Thou my portion, Lady of dew and flame!
Little I ask of the red gold, having the winds and thee.
1899