<html xmlns:tei="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0"><body><h1 align="center" class="head">Close Your Ranks</h1><div class="stanza"><p class="line"><span class="smallcaps">Yes</span>! Draw them close and closer still,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">The silken threads, that bind in one</p><p class="line">The prince, the peasant, rich and poor,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">Hark! Hark! The Armageddon is begun.</p><p class="line">O Britons all, let Duty be</p><p class="line">The watchword and the panoply.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">The last to draw the sword, but not</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">The first to sheathe it; slow we rise</p><p class="line">To arms. 'Tis Duty's stern behest,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">A peal of thunder from the skies,</p><p class="line">Which bids us to defend the Right</p><p class="line">Against the tyranny of Might.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">Did we forget in the days gone by,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">"Not each for each but all for all,"</p><p class="line">The sacred bond of Brotherhood,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">By which great empires rise or fall?</p><p class="line">Nay! But that evil dream is past,</p><p class="line">That strange aloofness healed at last.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">Dear Isle, dear tiny speck in space,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">Responsive to thy drums of war,</p><p class="line">And thrilled by loyalty of love,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">They come, thy sons from shores afar;</p><p class="line">Thy Flag, fair floating on the breeze</p><p class="line">Beckons them o'er the trackless seas.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">So far and near, so one and all,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">Though each one differs from the others,</p><p class="line">We stand together as of old,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">For round the Flag we all are brothers.</p><p class="line">And so we close our ranks to be</p><p class="line">The phalanx, which is victory.</p></div><p class="byline">-- Isaac Gregory Smith.</p></body></html> · Great War