<html xmlns:tei="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0"><body><h1 align="center" class="head">Honor to France!</h1><div class="stanza"><p class="line"><span class="smallcaps">In</span> peace we held thy worth in scant esteem;</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">Thy sons were dissolute, thy daughters frail;</p><p class="line">How light and fair and fickle didst thou seem</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">In time of need, alas, how sure to fail!</p><p class="line">But when war came, a war that was not thine --</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">And the flame seared thee, then thy heart we knew.</p><p class="line">In that dark tumult how thy soul did shine</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">Loyal and steadfast, pure and brave and true.</p><p class="line">Nay, thou art honored even by the foe,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">In martyrdom transformed and glorified!</p><p class="line">And we who scorned (how little did we know!)</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">Stripped of the tattered mantle of our pride,</p><p class="line">Let us in self-abasement bend the knee</p><p class="line">And pray for God's grace to become like thee.</p></div><p class="byline">-- William Dudley Foulke.</p></body></html> · Great War