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62
THE SERVICE
Have we not all one freedom, lost and found
When to one service body and soul are bound?
And is not life itself, if seen aright,
A great emergency, an endless fight
For all men's native land, and worth the price
Of all men's service and their sacrifice?
When to one service body and soul are bound?
And is not life itself, if seen aright,
A great emergency, an endless fight
For all men's native land, and worth the price
Of all men's service and their sacrifice?
Ah! had we that sea-wisdom, could we steer
By those same stars for even half the year,
How plain would seem, as viewed from armoured decks,
The problems that our longshore hearts perplex!
Less than his uttermost then none would give,
More than his just reward would none receive,
No! nor desire it, for to feast or hoard
While the next table shows a hungry board,
Whatever modern landmade laws may say
Is not the custom of Trafalgar's Bay.
The Brotherhood, the Service, Life at War,
These are the bonds that hold where heroes are,
These only make the men who weary not,
The men who fall rejoicing, self-forgot.
By those same stars for even half the year,
How plain would seem, as viewed from armoured decks,
The problems that our longshore hearts perplex!
Less than his uttermost then none would give,
More than his just reward would none receive,
No! nor desire it, for to feast or hoard
While the next table shows a hungry board,
Whatever modern landmade laws may say
Is not the custom of Trafalgar's Bay.
The Brotherhood, the Service, Life at War,
These are the bonds that hold where heroes are,
These only make the men who weary not,
The men who fall rejoicing, self-forgot.
Come back to that unfading afternoon.
Where Jutland echoes to the First of June
And Beatty raging with a lion's might
Roars out his heart to keep the foe from flight.
The Grand Fleet comes at last; the day is ours;
Mile beyond mile the line majestic towers:
The battle bends: Hood takes the foremost place
With the grand manner of his famous race,
Where Jutland echoes to the First of June
And Beatty raging with a lion's might
Roars out his heart to keep the foe from flight.
The Grand Fleet comes at last; the day is ours;
Mile beyond mile the line majestic towers:
The battle bends: Hood takes the foremost place
With the grand manner of his famous race,