<html xmlns:tei="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0"><body><h1 align="center" class="head">Kitchener</h1><div class="stanza"><p class="line"><span class="smallcaps">If</span> Death had questioned thee,</p><p class="line">"Soldier, where would'st thou take,</p><p class="line">The immitigable blow?"</p><p class="line">Thou hadst answered, "Let it be</p><p class="line">Where the battalions shake</p><p class="line">And break the entrenchéd foe."</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">Yet wert thou nobly starred</p><p class="line">And destined. Thou dost die</p><p class="line">On the grim English sea;</p><p class="line">Thou goest to the old tarred</p><p class="line">Great Captains, and shalt lie</p><p class="line">Pillowed with them eternally.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">And they shall stir from their rest</p><p class="line">Each in his lordly shroud,</p><p class="line">And say, "'Fore God, we have room,</p><p class="line">So are the deeps made proud,</p><p class="line">Behold the glory on his breast,</p><p class="line">Kitchener of Khartoum!"</p></div><p class="byline">-- X.</p></body></html> · Great War