<html xmlns:tei="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0"><body><h1 align="center" class="head">The Man Forsworn</h1><div class="stanza"><p class="line"><span class="smallcaps">Who</span> draws to-day the unrighteous sword?</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">Behold him stand, the Man Forsworn,</p><p class="line">The warrior of the faithless word,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">The pledge disowned, the covenant torn,</p><p class="line">Who prates of honour, truth, and trust,</p><p class="line">Ere he profanes them in the dust.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">When to yon fabric grey in fame,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">That Windsor lifts against the sky,</p><p class="line">In martial cloak the Kaiser came,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">We did not dream it cloaked a spy;</p><p class="line">Yet there he sat, as now we know,</p><p class="line">A guest, a kinsman, and a foe.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">France was a gallant foe and fair,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">That looked us proudly in the face,</p><p class="line">With her frank eyes and freeborn air,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">And valour half-concealed in grace.</p><p class="line">Noblest of all with whom we strove,</p><p class="line">At last she gives us noble love.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">But he that took our proffered hand,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">Thinking to take our birthright too,</p><p class="line">He, in this hospitable land,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">Bore him as only dastards do.</p><p class="line">Here, where the Earth still nurtures men,</p><p class="line">His hand shall soil not ours again.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">We know his people great and strong;</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">On such as these we cast no slur;</p><p class="line">Our wonder is that they so long</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">Suffer ungalled his bit and spur.</p><p class="line">'Tis with no heart of joy that we</p><p class="line">Arise to smite them on the sea.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">Glory we count of lesser worth</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">Than wife and babe and hearth and home;</p><p class="line">Theirs is the mandate speeding forth</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">Our steps of thunder on the foam;</p><p class="line">For them we fight, for them we stand,</p><p class="line">Yea, and for faith 'twixt land and land.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">You that have linked your might with ours,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">To break his pride who breaks the laws,</p><p class="line">You wear today, 'mid perjured Powers,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">The armour of a spotless cause;</p><p class="line">Your legions march in Truth arrayed,</p><p class="line">And knightly Honour whets your blade.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">From Baltic or Biscayan shores</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">Where Loire to the Atlantic runs;</p><p class="line">Where Volga to the Caspian pours,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">You have not poured in vain your sons.</p><p class="line">From laughing lands of Rhone and Seine</p><p class="line">You have not poured your sons in vain.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">Let us a League of Man proclaim</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">Against such knavery 'neath a crown</p><p class="line">As would be rightly held to shame</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">A swineherd and his fellow clown.</p><p class="line">Shall all the false and creeping things</p><p class="line">Find a last refuge among Kings?</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">At least on this unageing throne,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">That baffles the long siege of Time,</p><p class="line">We have a monarch of our own</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">To whom a crime is still a crime;</p><p class="line">And pure in aim there sits afar</p><p class="line">The patient, silent, storm-worn Czar.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">For one sole mortal it remained,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">One rash insulter of the Earth,</p><p class="line">To teach the world wherein he reigned</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">How much a Kaiser's word is worth.</p><p class="line">A Kaiser's word, a Caitiff's vow!</p><p class="line">Well have we learned their value now.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">Over the bland and kindly Day,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">Unseasonable Night he flings;</p><p class="line">Sinister darkness blear and grey,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">A horror of malignant wings.</p><p class="line">Pain and red havoc he bestows</p><p class="line">On them that only asked repose.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">He is not hungrier for your lands</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">Than he is thirsty for your seas.</p><p class="line">Smite him with all your thunderous hands,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">Fight him and smite him to his knees --</p><p class="line">You that on him and falsehood hurled</p><p class="line">Shall guard the fortress of the world.</p></div><p class="byline">WILLIAM WATSON</p><em>Daily Chronicle, August</em> 14, 1914</body></html> · Great War