Classic Poem

Those Who Went First

A DISTANT bugle summoned them by day,
A far flame beckoned them across the night.
They rose—they flung accustomed things away,—
The habit of old days and new delight.
They heard—they saw—they turned them over-seas,—
Oh, Land of ours, rejoice in such as these!

This was no call that sounded at their door,
No wild torch flaming in their window space,—
Yet the quick answer went from shore to shore,
The swift feet hastened to the trysting place.
Laughing, they turned to death from peace and ease,—
Oh, Land of ours, be proud of such as these!

High hearts—great hearts—whose valour strikes for us
Out of the awful dissonance of war
The perfect note, in you the chivalrous
Young seekers of the Grail relive once more.
Acclaimed of men—or fallen where none sees—
Oh, Land of ours, be glad of such as these!English