The true man loves his own, and fights for it;
And, since his own is little and God’s is large,
He often fights to fall. Yet ranks on high
Now throng with heroes, whose too slender blades
Were wielded but for slender causes once;
Nor sheathed, ere flying shatter’d from their grasp,
Till truth they fought had proven too strong for them.
Then, when they knew themselves, and knew the truth,
And knew its mercy too, they loved the truth,
And came to be its champions, evermore.