<html xmlns:tei="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0"><body><h1 align="center" class="head">We Willed it Not</h1><div class="stanza"><p class="line"><span class="smallcaps">We</span> willed it not. We have not lived in hate,</p><p class="line">Loving too well the shires of England thrown</p><p class="line">From sea to sea to covet your estate,</p><p class="line">Or wish one flight of fortune from your throne.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">We had grown proud because the nations stood</p><p class="line">Hoping together against the calumny</p><p class="line">That, tortured of its old barbarian blood,</p><p class="line">Barbarian still the heart of man should be.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">Builders there are who name you overlord,</p><p class="line">Building with us the citadels of light,</p><p class="line">Who hold as we this chartered sin abhorred,</p><p class="line">And cry you risen Cæsar of the Night.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">Beethoven speaks with Milton on this day,</p><p class="line">And Shakespeare's word with Goethe's beats the sky,</p><p class="line">In witness of the birthright you betray,</p><p class="line">In witness of the vision you deny.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">We love the hearth, the quiet hills, the song,</p><p class="line">The friendly gossip come from every land;</p><p class="line">And very peace were now a nameless wrong --</p><p class="line">You thrust this bitter quarrel to our hand.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">For this your pride the tragic armies go,</p><p class="line">And the grim navies watch along the seas;</p><p class="line">You trade in death, you mock at life, you throw</p><p class="line">To God the tumult of your blasphemies.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">You rob us of our love-right. It is said.</p><p class="line">In treason to the world you are enthroned.</p><p class="line">We rise, and, by the yet ungathered dead,</p><p class="line">Not lightly shall the treason be atoned.</p></div><p class="byline">John Drinkwater</p></body></html> · Great War