<html xmlns:tei="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0"><body><h1 align="center" class="head">"The Patriot."</h1><div class="stanza"><p class="line">LOW-browed, ill-nourished, fostered in a slum,</p><p class="line">He had no pride of birthright nor of breed;</p><p class="line">Yet when his country's hour of stress was come</p><p class="line">Stood up a man indeed.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">The stunted mind that laboured dim and dark</p><p class="line">Behind that narrow forehead gave small sign,</p><p class="line">Till War reached out a hand and lit a spark,</p><p class="line">There, of a fire divine.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">And he whose heritage was alley walls,</p><p class="line">Whose moon and stars were lurid napthalights</p><p class="line">That blazed and flared above the crowded stalls</p><p class="line">In Mile End Road o' nights:</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">Lo, he who never saw an English lawn,</p><p class="line">Nor English fields, nor English rollers break</p><p class="line">On English shores, has put his life in pawn</p><p class="line">For her, for England's sake.</p></div><p class="byline">B. R. M. Hetherington.</p></body></html> · Great War