Remember now the dead, but think
As well of them that come
Back form the terrifying brink,
The men of nameless fame.
Unlike the dead, they do at last grow old,
Those comrades of a half-forgotten fold.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
Do not go down dismayed, old men,
Do not go down dismayed,
For you possessed the strength of ten
Against the hordes arrayed
To seize your island fortress and enslave
A nation that no longer ruled the wave.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
Though bearded boys, who never knew,
May now presume to mock,
It was yourselves, the ageing few,
Who then withstood the shock
And held it high and cast it back again
As once your fathers cast back France and Spain.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
Therefore, do not go down, old men,
Dismayed, for in your day
You dared the Devil in his den
And slew him where he lay;
And nothing that these feckless times may do
Shall smirch the honour which belongs to you.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
-J.H.B. Peel
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