<html xmlns:tei="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0"><body><h1 align="center" class="head">Abi, Viator --.</h1><div class="stanza"><p class="line"><span class="smallcaps">If</span> thou hast seen the standard dim</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">Droop in its mesh of dust and grime</p><p class="line">Above the carven hands of him</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">Who bore it in some ancient time;</p><p class="line">If thou hast seen the silent sword</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">Rust redly in its tattered sheath,</p><p class="line">Hast caught the echo of the word</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">That flung an English glove at death,</p><p class="line">And yet thy pulses march unstirred,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">And still thy breath comes calm and slow,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">Pass on -- no Englishman art thou!</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">If thou canst hear and see to-day</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">The distant clamour and the fume</p><p class="line">Of crimson fate, and yet canst say</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">"The gain is mine, be theirs the doom."</p><p class="line">If thou thy unthrilled hands canst fold,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">If thou canst check thy seaward tread,</p><p class="line">Canst shun the dust and guard the gold,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">Thou hast no kinship with thy dead;</p><p class="line">Ah! if thy craven heart is cold,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">Pause not the perilous page to scan --</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">Pass on -- thou art no Englishman!</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">But if the distant unison</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">Of swooping sword and flying dart,</p><p class="line">Of straining sail and muttering gun,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">Touches thy spirit and thy heart;</p><p class="line">If England's day and England's call</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">Find thee a son of England, then</p><p class="line">Thou canst not falter -- thou, nor all</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">Her noble heritage of men;</p><p class="line">Pass on -- she stands, although we fall,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">Pass on unshaken though stars shake --</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">Thyself canst tell what road to take!</p></div><p class="byline">DOROTHY MARGARET STUART<br xmlns:exist="http://exist.sourceforge.net/NS/exist" xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"/></p></body></html> · Great War