Sedan
Another battle! and the sounds have rolledBy many a gloomy gorge and wasted plainO’er huddled hills and mountains manifold,Like winds that run before a heavy rainWhen 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 trustThat she will never darken in the dustAnd drift of wild contention, but remainThe hope and stay of many troubled lands,Where so she waits the issue of the fight,Aloof; but praying “God defend the Right!”
[End of Early Poems, 1859–70.]