Guards Came Through and other Poems

<h2><SPAN class="pagenum" name="Page_13" title="13"> </SPAN>VICTRIX</h2> <div class="poetry"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="line"><span class="small-caps">How</span> was it then with England?</div> <div class="line indent2">Her faith was true to her plighted word,</div> <div class="line indent2">Her strong hand closed on her blunted sword,</div> <div class="line indent2">Her heart rose high to the foeman's hate,</div> <div class="line indent2">She walked with God on the hills of Fate&mdash;</div> <div class="line indent4">And all was well with England.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="line">How was it then with England?</div> <div class="line indent2">Her soul was wrung with loss and pain,</div> <div class="line indent2">Her face was grey with her heart's-blood drain,</div> <div class="line indent2">But her falcon eyes were hard and bright,</div> <div class="line indent2">Austere and cold as an ice-cave's light&mdash;</div> <div class="line indent4">And all was well with England.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <SPAN class="pagenum" name="Page_14" title="14"> </SPAN> <div class="line">How was it then with England?</div> <div class="line indent2">Little she said to foe or friend,</div> <div class="line indent2">True, heart true, to the uttermost end,</div> <div class="line indent2">Her passion cry was the scathe she wrought,</div> <div class="line indent2">In flame and steel she voiced her thought&mdash;</div> <div class="line indent4">And all was well with England.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="line">How was it then with England?</div> <div class="line indent2">With drooping sword and bended head,</div> <div class="line indent2">She turned apart and mourned her dead,</div> <div class="line indent2">Sad sky above, sad earth beneath,</div> <div class="line indent2">She walked with God in the Vale of Death&mdash;</div> <div class="line indent4">Ah, woe the day for England!</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="line">How is it now with England?</div> <div class="line indent2">She sees upon her mist-girt path</div> <div class="line indent2">Dim drifting shapes of fear and wrath.</div> <SPAN class="pagenum" name="Page_15" title="15"> </SPAN> <div class="line indent2">Hold high the heart! Bend low the knee!</div> <div class="line indent2">She has been guided, and will be&mdash;</div> <div class="line indent4">And all is well with England.</div> </div></div> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />