Battle-Retrospect, and Other Poems/America to Belgium
AMERICA TO BELGIUM.
By that audacious gesture of defiance
In the mid-way of swift annihilation;
By that clairvoyance that read true salvation
In fearless martyrdom; by that alliance
With the defenceless right; by that reliance
On answering loyalties and indignation,
On some eventual, unseen vindication,
Unto your cause you won our glad compliance.
Henceforth let courage cast his bitter gage
Against a threatening cosmos! crucified,
Hang naked and alone in careless scorn,
Though all the slaves of power sweep in rage
Against him; for unto his riven side
He summons champions from another bourne.