Артур Конан Дойль (Arthur Conan Doyle)

«The Guards Came Through» (1919). 2. Victrix

How was it then with England?
	Her faith was true to her plighted word,
	Her strong hand closed on her blunted sword,
	Her heart rose high to the foeman's hate,
	She walked with God on the hills of Fate—
		And all was well with England.

How was it then with England?
	Her soul was wrung with loss and pain,
	Her face was grey with her heart's-blood drain,
	But her falcon eyes were hard and bright,
	Austere and cold as an ice-cave's light—
		And all was well with England.

How was it then with England?
	Little she said to foe or friend,
	True, heart true, to the uttermost end,
	Her passion cry was the scathe she wrought,
	In flame and steel she voiced her thought—
		And all was well with England.

How was it then with England?
	With drooping sword and bended head,
	She turned apart and mourned her dead,
	Sad sky above, sad earth beneath,
	She walked with God in the Vale of Death—
		Ah, woe the day for England!

How is it now with England?
	She sees upon her mist-girt path
	Dim drifting shapes of fear and wrath.
	Hold high the heart! Bend low the knee!
	She has been guided, and will be—
		And all is well with England. 

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