Poem by Henry Newbolt

The Volunteer

"He leapt to arms unbidden,
  Unneeded, over-bold;
His face by earth is hidden,
  His heart in earth is cold.

"Curse on the reckless daring
  That could not wait the call,
The proud fantastic bearing
  That would be first to fall!"

O tears of human passion,
  Blur not the image true;
This was not folly's fashion,
  This was the man we knew.

1. Northumberland
2. The Quarter-Gunner's Yarn
3. The School at War
4. O Pulchritudo
5. From Generation to Generation

Robert Service The Volunteer ("Sez I: My Country calls? Well, let it call")

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