<html xmlns:tei="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0"><body><h1 align="center" class="head">To the Belgians</h1><h1 align="center" class="head">From England</h1><div class="stanza"><p class="line">O <span class="smallcaps">men</span> of mickle heart and little speech,</p><p class="line">Slow, stubborn countrymen of heath and plain,</p><p class="line">Now have ye shown these insolent again</p><p class="line">That which to Cæsar's legions ye could teach,</p><p class="line">That slow-provok'd is long-provok'd. May each</p><p class="line">Crass Cæsar learn this of the Keltic grain,</p><p class="line">Until at last they reckon it in vain</p><p class="line">To browbeat us who hold the Western reach.</p><p class="line">For even as you, so we are, ill to rouse,</p><p class="line">Rooted in Custom, Order, Church and King;</p><p class="line">And as you fight for their sake, so shall we,</p><p class="line">Stubbornly, inch by inch, and house by house;</p><p class="line">Seeing for us, too, there's a dearer thing</p><p class="line">Than land or blood -- and that thing Liberty.</p></div><p class="byline">MAURICE HEWLETT</p><em>Westminster Gazette, September</em> 9, 1914</body></html> · Great War