Part 1

[Frontispiece: T. A. Browne]

THE BELGIAN MOTHER

AND

BALLADS OF BATTLE TIME

By T. A. BROWNE

SECOND EDITION

TORONTO: THE MACMILLAN COMPANY OF CANADA, LIMITED, AT ST. MARTIN'S HOUSE :: :: MCMXVII

COPYRIGHT, CANADA, 1917 BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY OF CANADA, LIMITED

Dedicated to

The Great War Veterans living, and dead, by whose exalted patriotism and heroic sacrifice in war the British Empire was preserved

CANADA

TO THE VETERANS OF THE GREAT WAR

As gallant knights, as valiant-souled crusaders, You come from quests of peril o'er the sea; From conflicts stern, against the brute invaders, With laurels nobly won, you come to me.

In contest grim, the mightiest of the ages, My banner through the carnage you have borne; Your names are written large on Glory's pages, I greet you, gallant soldiers, battle-worn.

Through all the years to be, I shall remember The deeds you wrought, since first you sailed away; Since flaming down through Belgium, that September, The Prussian hell-hounds, baying, sought Calais.

There Ypres and St. Julien, shining glorious, Red Courcelette and Vimy's Ridge aglow, And many another unsung fight, victorious, Wherein you clove a pathway through the foe.

You have returned with memories unfading, Of prodigies performed in Freedom's name, Of charging hosts and volley's enfilading, And roaring craters curtained with death's flame.

Some come not back; in lands afar they're sleeping. Who dies for Freedom fills no nameless grave; Their memory enshrined all hearts are keeping, So sleep remembered, all the gallant brave.

Yours is the place of honour in the nation; Who dares for Right the highest shall command; Who pours for Liberty his heart's libation Shall win the grateful tribute of my land.

Contents

The Belgian Mother The Burial of King Edward, The Peacemaker The Coronation of King George V The Greater Canada The Battle Call Give! Give! Give! The Battle of Langemarck "Somewhere in France" Lines to Greece Ireland Kismet The Crimson Year, Christmas, 1916 Grit and Tory "De Fightin' Fisherman" Monsieur Poilu "The Bells of Belgium" Lad of My Heart When Drinking to Erin Duty "A Wartime Greeting" The Aviators Hell's Acolyte Copper Johnny The Quest Eternal The Building of the Chateau The Spirit of Christmas The Chosen People The Waif A Toast Ballad of the Budget, Year 1909 "The Pipe" The Miracle of May In Summer Love's Miracle The Squaw-Man Heart's Desire The Awakening Eyes of the Heart Cupid's Arrow My April Maiden The Call of the Open The Loving Cup

THE BELGIAN MOTHER

THE BELGIAN MOTHER

Hear me, O God, who reignest upon high, From blood-bespattered fields hear thou my cry! Hear Thou a Belgian mother's fierce appeal, Whose torn bosom, 'neath the Prussian heel, Crimson and breastless challenges Thy sky, Of Christ the merciful demanding why. Wherefore the murder of my valiant sons! Wherefore the ravage of my little ones? Hear me, O Father; Jesus, hear me pray, Shall there be reckoning, shall Prussia pay?

Father, to whom I knelt these many years, Thou wilt give answer to a mother's tears; Give answer to the cry of her despair, If heav'n be not o'erthrown, if Thou art there! Helpless I stand amid the storm of hate, My children slain, my fields made desolate. I will not cease from urging till Thou give Some sign, some token, that Thy justice live. By daytime and by night-time I shall pray. For these foul crimes on mine, shall Prussia pay!

For sack of cities, sacrilege of shrines, For trampled tombs, a thousand nameless crimes, That cry for vengeance unto Heaven's throne, Shall he not pay, shall Prussia not atone? The dying hands of children grip my heart; From vale and upland, and the thronging mart, There is no laughter where they used to play; They cry unmothered, starved, with faces gray. If this be not a hell 'neath devil's sway, For all my little ones, shall Prussia pay!

O God of mine, Thy harvest moon still beams, Nor hides in horror from such ghastly scenes, And Thy great Sun I thought Thy hand might shade, And dim the light that gave such carnage aid. Red ravage rides across my piteous plain, Behold Namur, behold beloved Louvain! Temples of Wisdom, prostrate in the dust, Trampled and scarred to glut a despot's lust. Hast Thou no rod this crowned Ghoul to flay? For ruin of Beauty, Lord, shall Prussia pay!

Out from the land that loved them, beggared flung, Sons from the loins of olden heroes sprung; They whom great Caesar chronicled in praise, Shalt Thou leave outcast, doom to evil days?

Shall Belgium's sons, shall this beloved soil, Whose very mould is martial, be made spoil? Lord of the slain in olden battles, hear! Till all I love, till all I hold most dear, Till my young hero-king shall find his throne, Till Belgians shall again sing songs of home, I from amid the ruins, night and day, Shall cry to Thee, "O God, make Prussia pay!"

THE BURIAL OF KING EDWARD, THE PEACE-MAKER

All day the league long lines have onward marched; Mourn the sad millions round the silent bier, Where rests beneath the temple, nobly arched, The form a worldwide people held most dear.

The sombre pageant darkens all the land. The seven Kings in mournful grandeur ride, Kings of the earth must bow to death's command; Happy the Prince who heeds nor builds on pride!

Happy the land, that in such mournful hour Can through the tears of parting proudly say, As we, he wrought each instrument of power For good, and o'er his people's hearts held sway.

Shaping his efforts ever toward this end, That e'en the alien learned to bless his name, Healing the wounds red war had made, a friend To arts of peace, that is his crowning fame.

Peacemaker, rest among thy kingly sires; Peace was thy shrine, and never war's array, Nor glories reared on force were thy desires; Thy strength was given to shield, and not to slay.

Dead King, thy noblest triumph here is made. Who claims such tribute from a mighty state Reigns on; a sceptred king, though in death laid, And dying lives, beloved, immortal, great.

May, 1911.

THE CORONATION OF KING GEORGE V

AN ODE OF EMPIRE

Summer with the sun conspiring spreads her tapestry of June, Flora, all her glories flaunting, floors thy pathway flower-strewn, Hedge and field and rose-crowned wayside blush in beauty all aflame, While around thee, radiant ranging, millions give thee Sire, acclaim.

Strike O Bard! thy proudest Paen, singing with a soul on fire; Paint, O Master of the canvas! all that grandeur may inspire; But thy soaring inspirations broken-winged shall flutter down, Swooning in the purpling glory lighting this an Empire's crown.

Proudly moves the purple pageant over mighty London's pave, Rank on rank of gorgeous colour, stately moving wave on wave, Rank on rank the massing millions roar a welcome that upsoars Like the ocean billows breaking stormy round thy Island shores.

Festooned arches, brilliant bunting, scarlet seas white-capped with plumes, Tossing, surging, rythmic swaying to melodious marching tunes, King and prince and jewelled marquis, ermine robe and silken hose, Sweeping stately, thousand bannered, on and on the pageant goes.

Onward to the culmination of the long day's fevered strain, To the happy culmination with its hope of joyful reign, To the solemn coronation 'neath Westminster's wondrous pile, Treasure house of Britain's glory, loveliest heirloom of her Isle.

Sepulchre sublime and mossy; Brooder old what dreams are thine, Thou who blessed our monarch's forebears since the great Confessor's time, Thou who holds the dust of princes in thy motherly embrace, Who serene through years of tumult watched upgrow a mighty race.

From thy walls, oh Temple olden, thou hast watched the long years through. Seen the forest fastness broken, seen thy sons the seas subdue, Seen the Saxon hosts embattled to the conquering Norman yield, And the hunchback king remorseless die on Bosworth's bloody field.

Seen thy chivalry in squadrons fall in internecine strife, And the regal Stuart yielding on the block a royal life, Heard the conflict fierce of battle, heard the raging of old wars, Seen the victor lift the vanquished and in peace forget their scars.

And by slow regeneration from the things that did degrade, Rise upon a new foundation a fair nation nobly made, In her hand the touch of freedom, in her soul the newer birth, Bent upon the nobler mission, Peace, good-will, to men of earth.

Thus to nationhood and greatness did Britannia proudly rise, Upwards, onwards, ere extending unto wider, broader skies, Penetrating lands of darkness, luminous around the world, Mothering a hundred races, guarding 'neath her flag unfurled.

Steadfast in her mighty mission, seeking for the greater good, Hampered often in her labour, often too misunderstood. Giving of her wealth and wisdom, giving birth to nations new, Giant sons who name her mother, mighty offspring to her true.

They who sentinel the vastness of an empire's broad domain, Greater than the Macedonians, mightier than Rome or Spain, Never empire such as Britain's, never one with fewer stains, Far extended, many millioned, mantling mountains, seas, and plains.

Sire, we thy sons salute thee from thy empire's utmost end; This galaxy, thy free nations, to thee heartfelt greetings send; May thy reign be long and fruitful 'neath the King of Kings above, Olden empires bound by bondage, thine is bound by chains of love.

Sovereign companion of the watery main, Who chose the ocean as thy boyish bride, Who know her passion in the hurricane, And love her with a Briton's sea-born pride; Far continents and empires hast thou trod And saw thy standards in the sunlight stream, In every land beneath the dome of God, Ere thought of Empire entered in thy dream.

Wise in the wisdom of the sea art thou To gauge the compass and control the helm; God give thee grace to guide an Empire now, Prince called to kingship o'er a mighty realm; For on the summit of eight hundred years Amid the menace of these days we stand, And crown thee King amid an Empire's cheers-- Lord of a Kingdom reaching land on land.

Upon this day uplifted crowned art thou, Full orbed and sceptred in thy kingly state, The diadem of Empire on thy brow, Throned o'er a kingdom proud, surpassing great. Thine is the King, the Sceptre, and the Sword-- Symbols of power, thine, and thine alone; And thine to keep the compact of the Lord-- To guide thy people and protect thy throne.

Lo, 'tis the awful moment! On thy head The ancient crown of Britain rests--'Tis done-- Above the tombs where sleep the kingly dead That reared a Kingdom and an Empire won. Glory on glories round thee blaze, and deep Within thy people's hearts thou art enthroned; Unfearful of the whirlwinds fierce that sweep O'er alien monarchs, banished and disowned.

While splendour such as England seldom knew, Within a temple ancient and supreme, Marshals her grandeur, crimson, gold, and blue, In iridescent shadings opaline. Glory on glories 'round thee blaze and sweet Ambrosial incense rises to the sides, While prince and peer and people 'round thee meet, 'Neath galleries begemmed with Beauty's eyes.

While rolls on high the organ's swelling notes, Thrilling aloft in jubilees of sound; While joyful from a thousand loyal throats-- "God Save the King"--in glad acclaims resound, Triumphant blare the bugles on the breeze, In crashing cannonades the guns reply-- "God Save the King"--It leaps a hundred seas, And million voiced is echoed to the skies!

THE GREATER CANADA

Called the great soul of the Westland, "Come unto me, ye who rule, They who would plan for my greatness needs must attend in my school. Vast are my dreams of the future, born in my domain afar, They who would labour to build me let them now follow my star."

Into the East went the message, sweeping on clarion clear, Steady-toned, crisp and compelling, speaking that all men might hear, Telling of courage triumphant, of prodigies nobly performed, Of barrenness mantled in beauty, of nakedness clothed and adorned.

And he who ruled in the temple laboured and wrought for the good Of the land that reared him to honour, hearkened and understood; And borne on the wings of the morning he to the West gave reply, "Soul of the Westland, I hearken, unto thy Kingdom go I."

Then rose the West for his coming, pulsed the warm blood in her veins, Decked she her hillsides with beauty, matted with gold all her plains; Flung her broad banners in welcome, spread the fair fruits of her soil, Sent forth her offspring to greet him, children of sunlight and toil.

Trooping they came--him acclaiming--over the gold-crested plain, Jewelled with blossoms, sweet scented, bright with the gleam of the grain, Manhood and womanhood greeting, giving a welcome full sweet, There 'neath the sunlight of heaven, there midst the ripening wheat.

Into the West went the Seeker drawn by the Voice of the Soul, Vigilant into the vastness speeding from goal unto goal, Preaching the Gospel of Union, seeking the end that all creeds Might on the altar of freedom sacrifice give of fair deeds.

Then where the slumbering mountains fling their white pinnacles high, Precipiced, avalanched, chasmed, challenging ever the sky, The Soul of the West met the seeker and led him unto the throne, Where vision-eyed and majestic she dreamed in her glory alone.

Then spoke the Soul to the Seeker, "Far have you followed the quest, Out of the East I have called you unto my uttermost West; Out of the East you have issued, forth from the Old to the New, To gaze on the wonder accomplished, to judge of the things yet to do.

"Long have I brooded and waited over my league vista'd lands, Waiting the slow evolution, nursing my wide scattered bands. Men of all lands and all nations sprung from the ends of the earth-- They came to me and I fed them, asking not station or birth.

"Men from the steppes of the Russias, bearded and burdened and poor, Sons of the Plains of the Obi and deserts of Jeti Kenoor, Children of darkness and peril seeking the bounty I give, Craving the right but to labour, craving the boon but to live.

"Sons of the Vede and the Danube, Wards of the Tara and Rhone, These have I nourished and nurtured, these have I loved as my own; Cheering them on when they wavered with visions of greatness to be, When cities would gladden my prairie and spires rear by the sea.

"Now breaks the dawn of fulfilment, now through the mists see arise, Splendours thy dreams have recorded, sweet to the patriot's eyes. Lo, 'tis the vision of greatness, prophetic, soul-stirring, grand, All that I dreamed, Master Builder, all that you hoped for or planned.

"Beaches that billow and beckon, pregnant with bounty and life, Vistas of life giving plenty, foreign to clamour and strife, Cities that spring as by magic, fair, full of promise, they mould, Rising in splendour and beauty, proud in their settings of gold.

"Harbours o'erflowing with commerce where the proud galleons ride, Weighted and straining like racers waiting the turn of the tide, Legions of peaceful invaders, bearing no weapons that slay, Eager, expectant, and joyful, entering under my sway.

"Behold an edifice building out of the wealth of the Earth By the Sons that I have nurtured, by men of different birth; Building in love and in labour by men who are undismayed By the storm and stress of seasons, undaunted and unafraid.

"Behold an edifice rising over the land that God made, August, eternal, majestic, reared by the ploughshare and spade, Builded of granite and iron, of oak and gold and of steel, A temple where all may worship, a temple where all may kneel.

"The granite, the hearts undaunted, the oak and the gold fair deeds; The steel and the iron, girders binding the different creeds, The floors are the throbbing heart beats of men who love my sod And the dome, the love of country and abiding faith in God."

High beat the heart of the Seeker, deeply his being was stirred; "Soul of the Westland," he answered, "I came, I have seen, I have heard, While life shall beat in my bosom, while love shall throb in my breast, Labour will I for the Eastland, labour will I for the West,

"That to the great consummation, building in honour and peace, The nation may rise full proportioned, growing in splendid increase, With East and West undivided, bearing her banners unfurled, A Nation exultant and godly, spreading its light on the world."

THE BATTLE CALL

E'en as of peace we sang, While yet the laughter rang, Burst the red storm.

Past is the long prelude, Bloody and grim and nude Looms the dread form.

Gone is the haunting fear, Duty alone stands clear, Ours to perform.

Blow, British bugles, blow! O'er land and seas aflow, Call round the world,

Over thy vales and crags, Under thy battle flags, Proudly unfurled,

Till all thy children, all, Leap to thy martial call, For freedom hurled.

From o'er the western sea, Mother, we come to thee-- Come o'er the foam.

From east and south and north, Gladly we issue forth, Where e'er we roam.

Courage, thou lion heart, Soon shall we do our part For King and throne.

Fearless of death and flame, Forward in Freedom's name We shall advance.

Until the menace dies, Until it stricken lies Under our lance.

Though death be our repose, Live Shamrock, Thistle, Rose, Lillies of France!

GIVE! GIVE! GIVE!

AUGUST, 1914

Citizens, your kind attention: I desire here to mention We are sending thirty thousand of our bravest to the war. And they leave those to them nearest, All they love, all they hold dearest-- Mothers, wives, and little children who must be provided for.

Then let's Give! Give! Give! That the Empire yet may live; That the flag which stands for Freedom may be still uplifted high. Everybody "loosen up," Let us fill the widow's cup-- 'Tis our patriotic duty to the men who fight and die.

Give, then, without hesitation, Donate as befits your station, As befits a loyal nation that is ever in the van. Open up your golden coffers, Be not niggardly in offers-- Give up freely every woman, give up gladly every man.

Then let's Give! Give! Give! That the Empire yet may live; That the flag which stands for Freedom may be still uplifted high. Everybody "loosen up," Let us fill the orphan's cup-- 'Tis our patriotic duty to the men who fight and die.

They have heard their brothers calling From the plains where men are falling, Where the hosts embattled grapple, where the deep-mouthed cannon roar. To those valleys battle-stricken, Where the dead and dying thicken-- They have gone to fight for Freedom, they have left our peaceful shore.

Then let's Give! Give! Give! That the Empire yet may live; That the flag which stands for Freedom may be still uplifted high. Everybody "loosen up," Let us fill the mother's cup-- 'Tis a patriotic duty to the men who fight and die.

Men who stay behind can lighten Soldier hearts, their pathway brighten; It is little that they ask us, they who offer up their lives. Till the cruel war is over Let us o'er their loved ones hover-- O'er the little children waiting, o'er the mothers and the wives.

Then let's Give! Give! Give! That the Empire yet may live! That the flag which stands for Freedom may be still uplifted high. Everybody "loosen up," Let us fill the soldier's cup-- 'Tis our patriotic duty to the men who fight and die.

THE BATTLE OF LANGEMARCK

When men shall say who saved the day in years that are to be; When veterans back from war's grim track again abide with me; When Peace regains her throne and reigns, and silent are the guns, I'll think with pride of those who died and say They were my Sons.

I sent them from their peaceful tasks, those strong young sons of mine; I saw them swinging down the street, I saw them stand in line. My unbronzed of the counting-house, my sun-tanned from the farms, I sent them forth, sons of the North, my gallant men-at-arms.

With summer's fading rose they went, I well recall the day; The gold was on the maple leaf, the birds were on the spray, And through the long white wintertime I waited for the spring For word to tell me how they served their country and their King.

And then I heard the tolling bells and saw the flags half-mast. Why should I weep in springtime with the long, white winter past? And why are all the people stirred and what is it they say? My boys have dared, have fought and shared the glory of the fray.

Across the sea, afar from me, they've met the dreaded Huns At Langemarck, in Flanders, my gallant northern sons. Near Ypres, in the lowlands, three thousand miles away, Across the wave, my children brave, have died--but saved the day.

In grim array that April day, entrenched the Allies lay, To bar the path of Prussian wrath that fumed to reach Calais; And Ypres town, half battered down, they'd sought with longing eyes, For they had sworn that very morn to take it as a prize.

And breathing there the battle air beneath the warm sunshine From Peschendelle to Policapelle, Canadians held the line; Then, sudden as the avalanche that rips the mountain side, The battle broke, and through the smoke they met the German tide.

They watched the fume-filled cloud-bank rise and spread its stifling rack; They saw the Belgian veterans and gallant French fall back; They heard them cry, they saw them fly as men by fiends pursued; They heard the shout, they saw the rout before that cloud, hell-brewed.

In such a plight, as veterans might have blanched before and failed, They stood uncowed with spirits proud and hearts that never quailed. Surprised, amazed, a moment dazed, in that tremendous hour, Like living rocks they met the shocks of mad Germanic power.

They saw the wide breach wider grow, when men in terror fled; They saw the eager foe leap on o'er the dying and the dead; And by that foe and through that gap they saw an Empire fall; Then, in the breach, to front the foe, they threw their living wall.

They threw their living breasts between to stem the German tide, My volunteers of Canada--they fought as vet'rans tried. They fought the boast of Wilhelm's host; they met them hand to hand, My young men of the counting-house, my ploughboys from the land.

They came from ranches of the West, where plain and mountain call, From down east way, by Fundy's Bay, from Don and Montreal; Their feet had known the sea-walled street, where ocean mists hang gray, And one to four, though stricken sore, they kept the foe at bay.

The air rained death by bomb and dart, the earth belched death below By shining blade and hand grenade and death by poison slow. Three days of hell, with shot and shell, they fought 'neath moon and sun; The Belgian plain was strewn with slain, Canadian and Hun.

Ye troubadours--who sing of wars and brave deeds handed down, When you will sing how for the King they fought near Ypres town, Tell how they fought and nobly wrought like Paladins of old; Tell how my sons retook the guns and won their spurs of gold.