Henry Kendall

Early Poems (1859-70). Sedan

Another battle! and the sounds have rolled
 By many a gloomy gorge and wasted plain
O'er huddled hills and mountains manifold,
 Like winds that run before a heavy rain
 When Autumn lops the leaves and drooping grain,
And earth lies deep in brown and cloudy gold.
 My brothers, lo! our grand old England stands,
 With weapons gleaming in her ready hands,
Outside the tumult!  Let us watch and trust
That she will never darken in the dust
 And drift of wild contention, but remain
 The hope and stay of many troubled lands,
Where so she waits the issue of the fight,
Aloof; but praying "God defend the Right!"